Redcursion
by D0rkKnight
Summary: Ruby was given a second chance. A second chance to stop Cinder, and save Remnant. She was going to make sure that nothing bad happened and nobody died. But things were never that simple, and Ruby might one day find that the past had come back to haunt her, and that history was all too eager to repeat itself.
1. Destiny

It was terrible.

It was beautiful.

Cinder walked up the stairs leading into beacon tower, as grimm rained from the sky. A wicked smile crept across her face as she savored the culmination of her plan.

Oh how long she had waited to be strong. To be feared. To be powerful.

But no, she couldn't get lost in the moment. There was still one last problem to be solved. One last bug to be squashed. An eye for an eye they said. She'd make her pay with more than an eye.

The doors had been long blasted from their hinges. Iron rusted underneath the paint that had long peeled off. Paper was strewn everywhere, and tables were upturned. A large banner overlooking the room had its end burnt off.

She walked to the edge of the elevator shaft, doors forced open. She looked down, and then up.

* * *

Ruby stood under what what was once a web of clockwork, a magnificent display of engineering. She stood still as a statue, waiting for the Fall Maiden. The Grimm Dragon clung from the side, frozen in time and place yet still seemingly lifelike. Its black scales glinted in the moonlight. Its eyes flickered.

 _Well, this is it, I guess._

A light slowly creeped up the elevator shaft as the roaring sound of fire slowly neared her. The girl hunched down and readied Crescent Rose, preparing to leap towards Cinder who was currently shooting up the tower.

 _Ready, set, g-_

Ruby was about to leap towards the door when a fireball shot out instead and exploded, throwing flames everywhere. A group of obsidian shards darted out, soon followed by Cinder herself, drawing her bow.

She smiled as Ruby leaped forwards, barely dodging the arrow and threading through the shards. She deflected Crescent Rose with her bow, and disintegrated it now that Ruby had closed the distance.

Crescent rose slashed down.

Cinder deflected the scythe with her hands, following it with blast from her palm. Ruby dodged and countered with a sweep at Cinder's legs. Slash. Block. Stab. Feint. Ruby forced Cinder onto the defensive with a relentless barrage of slashes. She pushed forwards when Cinder suddenly grabbed Ruby's weapon with her bare hands and elbowed her in the ribs.

She gasped in pain as Cinder flipped over her. A hand then tugged at her hood. She shot away in a shower of petals as Cinder tried to strike her in the back. Crescent Rose flipped around in an arc and a single sniper round blasted out.

Cinder swept it away with the back of her hand and summoned an army of obsidian shards. Ruby was forced to dart back to the ground as the shards bolted towards her in a wide arc.

She landed only to see Cinder with her hands on the ground, fire licking in a circle around her. The ring started expanding, drawing dancing vortexes of flames across the ground. Ruby's eyes widened as the wall of fire hurtled towards her. She tried darting away, but it was too late. The wall smashed into her, knocking her over the edge of the tower and sending Crescent Rose flying away. Gravity started pulling on her, but she managed to barely dart back onto the edge of the tower. She was met with the sight of Cinder drawing back an arrow.

A single ashen arrow pierced through Ruby's heart.

Her knees buckled, and she fell backwards, off of the tower.

Wind rushed past her as she hurtled downwards. Her vision started going white, but something pushed it back. Repressed it.

 _So this is how I'm gonna die, a fall?_

A sickening crunch sounded as she connected with the ground.

* * *

 **Haha, my (first) horrible attempt at writing something! Leave a review or whatever, I don't really care.**


	2. History

Ruby gasped for air as she woke up.

 _Am I dead?_

A memory of her hurtling towards the ground surfaced. Sigh _._ _Looks like Cinder won in the end._

She pushed herself up and took in her surroundings. Before her stood four massive pillars of stone, each with mysterious glyphs on them, standing in a wide arc. Behind her was a passageway, leading upwards. The cavern had natural earth and stone walls, with the only light coming from the tunnel.

 _Where am I?_ _Why am I wearing this?_

She looked down at her combat uniform, identical to the one she wore 2 years ago. Too much red.

 _I guess I should get moving._

Ruby turned around to see the passageway leading upwards. Dust floated in the air, catching the light.

* * *

She stepped out into a serene forest. Rays of light penetrated the thick leaves above, casting transparent shadows on the ground. An aura of peace permeated the air. She started walking forwards, surrounded by the soft sound of grass ruffling in the wind; the leaves slowly swaying like the tide. She looked behind her. Towering above her was a smooth cliff face, with the stone passageway that she had just left. She turned back and looked towards the clouds.

 _Wait, is that Beacon Tower?_

The tower in the distance stood whole again, rising above the clouds, green lights shining in the blue sky. Ruby shook her head and wiped her eyes, but the tower still persisted.

 _Is this the afterlife?_ This couldn't be the real world. The real Beacon wasn't standing. The real Beacon was destroyed.

She turned around and flew up the cliff face. She saw Beacon Academy in its whole from the vantage point. Behind her were the ruins from Initiation, the bridges still damaged from the fight against the Deathstalker. She stared towards Beacon for a moment, still not believing its existence. _Maybe its an illusion,_ she thought to herself.

Well, there was only one way to find out the truth. Ruby dropped back into the forest and started on the path back towards Beacon Academy.

* * *

Forest slowly thinned out into thick underbrush, which then in turn became grass fields. She saw the academy in its whole as she slowly neared it.

 _This. . . This seems real._ Beacon towered over her, as real as the forest she had just left, as real as the earth she stood on.

It was odd returning to Beacon. She was already used to the desolate, destroyed Beacon that was crawling with monsters. Seeing Beacon again at the height of its glory perhaps affected her a bit more than she would have liked to admit.

"I'm back," she whispered with a smile. Tears came to her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. She stood there is peace, taking in the school again. The serene beauty brought back memories of a better time, times before Salem, times where things were normal.

She looked around, absorbing the school.

 _Wait, is that Glynda? And Ozpin?_

 _What?_

 _Well. . ._

 _they look real. . ._

Ruby ran up to her. "Hey, um, do you know where the dorms are? I'm a bit lost," she asked, a bit embarrassed.

"Just around the corner down the hallway left of the main hall," she replied after a pause, "may I ask why you aren't already in your dorms?"

"Just came out for a walk, hehe," Ruby replied, scratching the back of her head. She turned around and walked towards the main hall, mind racing. She pushed through the door and looked around. Ornate decorations lined ever inch of the walls, alongside massive banners reading "Welcome To Beacon!" _Are those the Initiation decorations?_

 _Wait a second. . ._

The realization struck her, and a massive smile came to her face as she jumped in the air in joy.

 _I'm, I'm still alive! And so is Yang, Blake, and Weiss, and everybody!_ Her legs gave way and she started crying tears of happiness.

Things weren't going to fall apart this time. She was there to make sure of that. She wasn't going to let Cinder succeed. She wasn't going to let history repeat itself. She stood up and looked back towards Beacon. Not some fake projection, but the real one that she had spent the best year of her life in.

She set out exploring the school a second time. Memories came rushing back as she returned to the cafeteria, the combat arena, and the classrooms. The food fight, the drama, even the boring lectures brought a deep sense of nostalgia in her. Ruby smiled, long lost memories returning to her.

An hour or so passed, and Ruby had finally ran out of places to explore. Well, other than one.

 _I guess it's time for the reunion._

She gathered up her courage, and started towards the dorms.

* * *

 **Knock Knock**

The door swung open to reveal a disgruntled morning Yang.

"Where were yo-" she muttered half heartedly before being broken off by a full body hug from Ruby.

"Hey hey, it'll be fine here at Beacon, Rube," she joked after an awkward pause.

"Hey, why are you crying?" she asked as she dropped her smile.

"It-it's fine, I'm just happy that I'm here in Be-eacon" Ruby sniffled back.

"Then I'm happy I could come here with my little sister," Yang assured, smirk on her face, "now now, stop crying." Ruby let go of her and wiped her tears on her sleeve. A smile came to her face as she climbed onto her bunk and sat down, feeling the softness of the mattress. She looked around at the familiar beds, posters, and the view outside. It brought a warmth to her heart.

 _Everyone's back._

 _Everything's okay._

Blake was reading her books, Weiss was putting up a timetable, and Yang was looking at her weird. It was as close to normal as things was going to get, and the truth was, it was all Ruby had ever wanted.


	3. Delusion

Team RWBY, closely followed by Team JNPR, stumbled into the classroom before taking their seats in the front two rows. A battle axe hung from the wall, alongside several models and diagrams of different types of Grimm. The back of the brightly lit room was covered in sheets of parchment covered in sketches of Ursai, Beowolves, and other creatures of darkness detailing any specifics that a Hunter in Training would need to know in order to defeat them.

 _Huh,_ Ruby thought amused as she sat down with her team, having barely made it on time. _There's the diagram of a Boarbatusk. If only Weiss noticed that the first time. . ._

Professor Peter Port, a middle-aged man with grey hair and a similarly colored mustache, stood in the front of the classroom in before a podium, dressed in a double-breasted burgundy suit with gold piping and buttons where his pants are tucked into olive boots. He gave a slight cough to gather the attention of the students.

"Monsters! Demons. . . Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey!" Port stated, following with a jovial laugh that shifted his grey moustache up and down along with his belly.

The statement caught an ironic edge in Ruby's mind.

She looked around to see what the others was doing. Weiss was frantically writing down notes, Yang was sleeping with her head propped up, and Blake was enamored in her book. Ren was slowly turning into stone and Nora was scribbling down doodles and giggling to herself. Jaune on the other hand was shifting around his seat uncomfortably, trying to look as small and unnoticeable as possible.

The class slowly drifted away along with the arms of the clock when Port suddenly slammed his hand on the table. "And who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" he challenged them. Ruby considered raising her hand. _No, it's an unnecessary risk,_ She thought to herself, _I don't want people questioning why a 15 year old fights like people over 2 times her age._

 _It's better if I let Weiss do it again._

Weiss' hand shot upwards. "I do, sir!"

Port grinned. "Well then, let's find out!" he announced, presenting a shaking iron cage, red eyes glinting between the bars. "Step forwards and face your opponent!"

Weiss stood up and walked over to the front of the classroom. She took her position in front of the cage, and readied herself. "Head up, shoulder back, right foot forwards - no, not that forwards," she muttered to herself, ticking off a mental checklist.

"Gooo Weiss!" Yang yelled, reaching over the front of her desk and barely staying in her seat. The desk groaned, but still held.

"Fight well!" Blake cheered while waving around two little paper team RWBY flags, sitting back in her seat unlike Yang.

"You can do it!" Ruby yelled, arms waving in the air. Her red figure bobbed up and down on the edge of Weiss' vision. Her eyes flicked to the left, breaking her focus and bringing her out of stance.

"Shut up Ruby, I'm trying to focus!" Weiss shot back, stepping out of position. She turned a little to better yell at Ruby.

Port saw her become distracted and announced, "Go and face the enemy!" His battle axe swept down, smashing the lock off in one smooth motion while Weiss was still berating Ruby. She quickly stumbled into her stance and pointed Myrtenaster at the Boarbatusk charging towards her.

She rolled off to the side as the Boarbatusk charged through where she had stood. The Grimm skidded to a stop a few meters away. It turned around and reared its legs, readying for a second charge. Weiss hunched down, and leaped into the air as it hurtled forwards. Her rapier glided towards one of the boar's eyes, only to meet chitin as it sunk itself into the boar's skull. It jammed to a stop and pulled on the Boarbatusk, but ultimately gave way as Weiss lost her grip and was flung off.

 _What is Weiss doing?! Sticking her only weapon in the most heavily armored bit of the enemy. Tactical genius._ She rolled her eyes and yelled, "What are you doing?! Go for the stomach!"

Weiss rolled and spared a glare towards her. "Shut up! I don't need your help!"

 _What do you mean?! Your only weapon is stuck in your opponent!_ She had almost forgotten how irritable Weiss was.

Scratches trailed on the ground as the Boarbatusk stopped. It reared one last time and charged forwards, coming in for the kill. Ruby saw Port ready his battle axe, in case things turned for the worse.

Weiss ran towards the boar instead of dodging. She threw down a glyph and leaped onto it, catapulting herself through the air.

She landed feet first onto Myrtenaster, and stomped the sharp tip through the skull and into soft flesh. She prepared to spring off, but the sudden softness of the flesh tripped her and forced her into a roll. The Boarbatusk let go a piercing squeal and fell dead, sliding on the ground until the corpse came to a stop.

The silence was broken by Port's clapping. "A very interesting solution! It indeed seems like we are in the presence of a true huntress in training!" Professor Port loudly applauded. The class followed after processing her kill.

Port walked back to the podium. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Weiss stood up and dusted herself off. She pulled her rapier out of the dead Grimm, and cleaned it with a flick of her wrist. She turned and walked off with a slight limp, ankle hurting from when she had stomped her rapier into the boar.

* * *

 _I should confront her about the leadership issue._

 _But. . . She's not that angry. Not as angry as last time._

 _I do suppose she'd talk with Port about this. . ._

 _I'm sure he can handle it._

Team RWBY left the classroom as a group. "Wow, that was sooo badass," Yang complemented, punching Weiss on the arm.

"I only learn from the best," Weiss stated as she smiled.

"Heh. Does it mean I get to go harder on you in the spars?" Yang said, grinning.

"If we get paired together, that is," Weiss replied politely, smile not leaving her face.

Ruby smiled to herself, trailing behind. _Argument avoided!_ She did a mental fist pump and ambled off to the dorms.

Team RWBY bade farewell to Team JNPR, with Jaune's face turning beet red when Weiss' eyes scanned over him. The two groups walked into their respective dorms.

Ruby threw herself face first onto her bed and turned over. There was still a reading to do. She skimmed through the textbook, eyes glazing over the text. She had learned it all before, so she just settled down, pretending to read while slowly dozing off.

Moonlight floated into the room as the curtains idly drifted. A cool breeze flowed over her, and the room dozed off into silence. Her eyelids started drooping, and she put down her book.

It wasn't long before Morpheus enveloped her in its sweet embrace.

* * *

Ruby was in a dark room.

She saw Yang bound to a chair that was bolted to the ground. A bright light was cast onto her, casting harsh shadows onto the walls. She was struggling to break free, eyes red and hair glowing. Her restraints buckled and stretched, but did not give way.

A door behind ruby creaked open, and a woman stepped into the room. Her hair was odd, one half pink, the other brown. The same for her eyes.

"Neo," Ruby growled. She didn't respond, nor did Yang.

Neo smiled ambled towards Yang, something in her hand. She stopped and leaned forwards. Fear lanced through Yang's eyes, as she changed from trying to break free to backing into her chair.

Ruby could only watch as her sister screamed.

* * *

 **Many thanks to Exiled Darkness for Beta-ing this fic!**


	4. Deviation

Ruby's eyes snapped open. Her hand shifted for Crescent Rose only to meet air. Her eyes flicked over to her arm and returned to the ceiling. They slid closed, and her body relaxed, sinking back into the swaying mattress.

 _Right, I'm back at Beacon._

She pushed herself up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, dropping down. Yang's loud snores sounded through the room as she took steps towards the door.

"I'm back at Beacon." The words tasted alien as they left her mouth. She had put them to the back of her mind, but now they resurfaced. It was hard to believe that she was back. Everything felt like it could be a dream, something that would fade away to cold, harsh reality.

Ruby pushed open the door and silently closed it behind her. She turned around to look at her sleeping team again. Whole, unharmed.

 _If only it could've stayed this way._

Her eyes hardened.

 _I'll make it stay this way._

She left the building and started walking down a brick path. Her eyes scanned the shadows, but she forced them forwards. Tall marble pillars stood over the path, with a garden on one side. A wall pressed on the other side, lined with windows that opened into the cafeteria. The morning rays of sunlight had just risen, and a calming silence had enveloped the school, still asleep.

 _There's no danger here. Beacon's safe,_ she mentally reassured herself.

She stopped. The figure behind her did so too.

Her hand whipped out Crescent Rose and pointed it at Jaune's forehead. He hastily backed off and hastily stammered, "Woah-Hey! What are you doing?!"

Ruby's arms slacked as her gun fell to her side. Her hand scratched the back of her head. "Oops, thought you were trying to attack me. Hehe. Sorry about that," she awkwardly explained. Jaune deadpanned before gesturing around. "Who's going to attack you in the middle of Beacon?" He asked.

Ruby shook her head. "Don't worry about it." She deflected. "What are you doing out here this early?" She asked, eager to move the conversation from the fact she almost blew his brains out.

"Oh, u-um, nothing. Just a walk," he replied nervously, backing off to a safe distance, "you know, clear my head out and stuff."

"Excited to be in Beacon, huh?"

"Yeah. That too," he added, looking away. He shook his head slightly. "Hey, what are you doing out here anyways?" he asked.

"Just out for some supplies, ran out of ammo," she idly replied, "Anyways, I have to get going. The morning ships leave in fifteen minutes."

"Oh, okay, bye." Jaune nodded as he turned around and walked away. She stared at his retreating back before continuing on her way.

* * *

Ruby stepped onto the mostly empty Airship. She leaned onto the window, looking outside towards the lake. A loud roar sounded from the floor as the ship lurched upwards, gliding off towards Vale.

Rays of light scattered from the lake's surface, forming different shades of orange, red, and yellow. The water faded into sand, and the airship slowed to a stop as it landed in a small terminal on the beachside. Ruby stepped off into the edge of Vale. Around her stood brick flats, sporting arrays of Hunter products and showcasing weaponry. A few people milled around the wide streets, most of the city still asleep.

 _Must be pretty early without anybody around._

She walked up to a store. A plaque above the doorway read "Beacon General Student Supplies." She pushed open the door and stepped in.

 _Hey, it's that guy. The one who's literally everywhere._ The old man happily waved to her. She nodded and placed 50 lien on the counter. "Five magazines of .5 caliber sniper rounds. Red dust, explosive," she recounted.

The old man nodded and entered a blur, vials spinning and ammo cartridges flipping through the air. He skidded to a stop and dropped a stack of magazines on the counter. His hand reached out and pocketed the money, and waved as Ruby picked up the bullets and ambled out of the store.

Her feet started stepping towards the airship terminal when a loud blast erupted from the neighboring block. Smoke billowed over the rooftops, and screams sounded from behind her as people rushed past her.

 _What was that?!_

She stood still, looking towards the smoke before running back into the store. "Hold this," she yelled as she dropped the magazines back onto the counter. She darted back out and started making her way towards the explosion. People rushed from the streets. A voice screamed, "White Fang!"

Crescent Rose unfolded as Ruby's pace quickened. She turned the corner only to see an orange haired girl standing over the downed bodies of five or so White Fang soldiers.

 _Penny? What?_

She bit down on her tongue as she almost called out the girl's name. She backed off behind the corner, not willing to stand in the middle of the street like a fool.

A black car drove up the street and stopped in front of Penny. An old man made a gesture towards her, and the robot girl stepped into the car. The door slammed shut before the car drove off. A minute passed and Ruby was about to step forwards when a siren sounded and a police car turned the corner. Two police officers stepped out of the car. One made his way to the downed White Fang, while the other took out a roll of caution tape and started sectioning off the area.

 _Nevermind._

She turned around and walked away. _Does this always happen?_

 _I guess it does._ Ruby forced down an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she returned to the store to pick up her ammunition.

* * *

"Beacon is a school that trains Huntsmen and Huntresses in all fields, from history to science to many other subjects," Glynda Goodwitch said as she paced around the classroom. "Most importantly, however, it is a school of combat," she said, "As a Hunter, you will be expected to face not only Grimm, but also fellow Humans and Faunus who have strayed from their paths."

"That is why we here at Beacon have combat class. To prepare you for battle in a controlled environment, starting from your peers." She stopped and looked at the students. "Who would like to demonstrate for us?" Her eyes scanned the room to see if there were any volunteers. Seeing none, she sighed. "If nobody is willing to volunteer, I will randomly select a pair myself."

A few groans emanated from the audience. "As a Hunter, you will have to fight, whether you like it or not," Glynda stated in response.

She gestured to her scroll for a moment before on the large screen hovering above the students, two sections lit up as images and names flashed by. They slowed down and rested upon two individuals.

"Jaune Arc versus Cardin Winchester," she announced, "please come up and take your positions."

Cardin stood up with a sly grin and made his way towards the front.

"Jaune Arc, please proceed to the arena."

Jaune stayed glued to his seat. "Mr. Arc, please leave your seat and proceed to the arena," she asked again.

"I'm - I'm not prepared," he stammered, looking around for a way out.

"The enemy won't wait for you," she stated as she shot a cold glare towards Jaune. He froze and slowly stood up, before shuffling out of the aisle and down into the arena. Cardin was already waiting for him, hand out.

Jaune's hand meekly met Cardin's. He felt his hand's joints slowly pop under the handshake. "The name's Cardin. Cardin Winchester," the taller boy said, smirking. He leaned towards Jaune.

"Jaune Arc," he replied, a wavering smile plastered on his face, taking a step back.

As Glynda's voice rose up again, a set of bars appeared under the images of both fighters, filling up. "Here you can see the aura levels of the combatants. The match will end when one or both sides enter critical, or if one combatant concedes to the other. A timer will also be set into place to give everybody here a chance to participate. If the timer runs out, the victor with the higher levels of aura will be the winner. Ammunition will not be provided, and explosives and destructive semblances are prohibited."

"Combatants, take your positions." Cardin took long strides towards his side of the arena, while Jaune skittered away to the opposite half. He unsheathed his sword and equipped his shield.

"Match Start," Glynda announced. The room was plunged into darkness, save the arena. Tears rose to Jaune's eyes, agitated by the harsh brightness.

Cardin let his mace touch the ground. He pulled it behind him as he slowly advanced, grating against the ground. He started cracking the knuckles on his left hand.

Jaune charged forwards. He drew his sword above his head and swung it down. It was deflected by a meager turn of his opponent's body. He stumbled forwards, the weight of his sword pulling him.

Cardin's knee smashed into his unarmored stomach. His entire body buckled around the knee as pain lanced through his body. His lungs deflated and a small amount of bile and spittle came up as he was sent back with a heavy haymaker. His body crashed into the ground and he skidded to a stop. Stars flew around his vision as he gasped for breath. His body swayed and his legs buckled slightly as he stood up.

Cardin was already in a charge. Jaune's left arm instinctively rose up to blunt the attack, taking his shield with it. The mace hit the shield straight on, sending shockwaves through Jaune's arm. The jolt rushed up his arm and into his chest, numbing his arm. He lost balance and was pushed backward.

The world rotated as his back smashed into the ground, sending a second wave of shockwaves. He slid backward but stopped. A tugging from his hoodie showed that it had caught on a rock and was now slightly choking him. Cardin lifted his mace up and smashed it into Jaune's shield again. His arms nearly buckled as the mace connected, but still held. The sand and gravel bit painfully into his back, and his arms threatened to collapse inwards.

His eyes frantically looked around. They found Cardin's heel, completely unguarded. His leg thrashed out, striking the unguarded area. Cardin's stance shifted, and Jaune heaved the mace off and threw his blade forwards with the rest of his energy.

It struck and bounced off harmlessly from Cardin's chest plate. A scowl formed on his face and a kick sent Jaune flipping onto his back. He pulled his mace above his head and brought it downwards.

"Stop."

A violet glow wrapped around the ball of spikes as it stopped an inch from Jaune's chest. The lights of the arena dimmed as the rest of the room was illuminated.

"As we can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has begun to dip into the red and, as such, means he is no longer able to fight safely." She stopped and looked towards Cardin. "Mr. Winchester, please do not let overconfidence dictate the course of your battles next time. As for you Mr. Arc," she said, looking over to the downed blond, "Please come better prepared to class."

Jaune flipped over and started gasping for air. He struggled to push himself up but was pulled upwards by a pair of strong hands. "Next time Jauney-boy, try to last a little longer will ya?" Cardin smirked as he let go and watched Jaune stumble. Jaune looked away and took a deep breath, sheathing his sword and collapsing his shield as he tiredly limped out of the arena. Every step sent more pain up his leg, as the adrenaline slowly wore off.

"At least you got a good hit off him," Pyrrha reassured as he sat down, "There aren't many here who are. . . as strong as he is." She looked around and drew up a smile.

"Yeah yeah," he echoed. The two panels on the screen started moving again and settled on two more figures.

"Nora Valkyrie versus Yang Xiao Long!"

His eyes focused onto his teammate as he sat down. He slowly slid down his seat and watched the fight with a sullen expression, staring off as he tried to ignore the quiet snickering from the rest of the class.

* * *

 **Exiled has been promoted from Beta to Cowriter, cause I'm too lazy to actually write everything myself. :)**


	5. Idealization

Team RWBY took a seat across Team JNPR, plates piled with food hitting the table with a clatter. The grinding sound of chairs being pulled out groaned, and the group sat down.

"Fighting class was aaawesome!" Nora yelled, brimming with excitement.

"Yeah, great spar, we should go again some time," Yang chimed in. "Maybe you won't get stomped so bad next time," she taunted, laughing.

The orange-haired girl was about to open her mouth again when Ren made a silent motion towards Jaune, sulking at the edge of the table, picking at his food with a fork.

"Haha yeah... we should," Nora awkwardly finished the conversation with. She chanced a glance towards Jaune, face still pointed towards his plate. The group sat in an awkward silence for a moment.

"I'm not hungry," the sulking teen said. He stood up to throw away his food.

"Hey, you shouldn't let people like Cardin bully you around like that," Yang called out.

Jaune scowled. "Then what should I do? Fight him?"

Pyrrha joined in. "It doesn't always have to stay that way. You can improve as a fighter! We're all willing to help you," she encouraged.

He hesitated. "No, I'm alright."

"Why, we can see you're not," Yang cut in.

"I have my own reasons." He turned around and walked off, figure fading into the crowd.

Yang slumped down. "What is it with him anyways?" She looked around. Blake was staring into her book, deep in thought, while Ruby was eyeing Cardin and his friends.

"Ruby, killing Cardin isn't going to help."

 _Oh, no, I'm not going to kill him,_ Ruby thought. She returned her eyes to her food and started eating again.

"Anyways, I had a reeaally crazy dream yesterday!" Nora broke the silence. She looked around, practically begging for someone to pull the conversation off of Jaune.

"Really? Can you tell us about it?" Pyrrha asked.

"So, there we were, in the middle of the night. . ."

* * *

Ruby was in the library, looking through the catalogs. Rows and rows of bookshelves lined the walls, assorted with all kinds of literature. Poetry, history, or just regular novels. Beacon had it all.

She was currently looking for books on Grimm, or more importantly, the origin of them. A row of massive books stood before her, tightly packed into the bookshelves.

 _A History of Grimm, looks like this'll do._

She pulled the massive book out and heaved it back to her table, where she had been sitting for the last hour or so. She dropped it with a slam, and flipped open the first page and started reading. Her eyes scanned through the index.

 _Ah, the Origin of Grimm._

"Not much is known of the Grimm, and even less so the origin of them. As far as it is known, Grimm are creatures that just become. They do not have life cycles, and do not leave behind corpses. It is almost as if they are one with the very earth. It has been noticed that Grimm coalesce around past points of extreme sorrow, although it is unknown whether or not they are simply attracted to the negativity or they actually stem from it. It has been noticed that Grimm do not appear within a vicinity of man-made structures. They may be attracted to them, but isolated instances do not seem to spawn any Grimm."

 _Blah blah blah. No good._

She opened the book back to the index.

 _Wielders of Grimm? What?_

"Throughout history, there have been certain wielders of Grimm. Those known to be so horrible that the very essence of evil was attracted to them. Not much information is left of them, and they have long disappeared, pushed back and eradicated by the civilized world. With the creation of the nations that stand in this world today, the wielders of Grimm have long faded into history, unable to fight against the power of humanity."

 _So, like Salem?_

"Few artifacts pertaining to the wielders of Grimm have been uncovered. One such pendant. . ." Her eyes scanned over the next few paragraphs. Something caught her eye. She traced backward until she found the section.

"An ancient tablet has also been uncovered of one such wielder having so much power over the Grimm that she had fused with them, given her body as shelter. It was uncovered in a crypt on the continent of Anima. _Next Page, left_ "

Her fingers touched the edge of the page, ready to flip it. She paused as trepidation ran through her.

She flipped the page anyways. A large ink image of an insect sprouting from a hand greeted her.

The book slammed shut. A bead of sweat rolled down from Ruby's forehead as she forced herself to calm down. Her heartbeat quickened and her breath shortened into pants.

 _Calm down, calm down, calm down_

She looked back towards the book. Her hand reached out for it, but pulled back as if it was burning hot.

 _I. . . I think that's enough research for today._

She nudged the book away and stood up, making her way back towards the dorms.

* * *

She walked down the combat locker hall. Metal boxes were lined up against the wall, each with a number pad on them. The hallway was empty, other than two figures at the end.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" the shorter one exclaimed. The larger figure pushed him back, into one of the lockers. He slammed the door shut, and punched in a sequence on the number pad.

"Oh c'mon!" A muffled voice yelled from within. Fire licked from underneath the rocket, pushing the locker out of Beacon and into the stratosphere.

Ruby stared at Cardin, bored.

 _Well, looks like I have to escort him back._

* * *

The locker door creaked and fell off its hinges when Jaune slammed his fist against the inside of it. He stumbled out, and puked his guts out over the grass. He raised his arm to his mouth, and wiped the bile off.

A pair of red eyes blinked from the shadows. It growled, and advanced. Jaune's eyes widened as a beowulf stepped out, baring its fangs.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit," he muttered. He instinctively took a step back, and tried warding the Grimm off with a hand. His eyes darted towards Crocea Mors, still attached to his hip.

The Beowulf was already in a pounce when his eyes returned. It flew forwards, and crashed into him. Its fangs bit into his forearm pushing his him off balance. "Aargh! Get off!" he yelled, trying to shake the heavy Beowulf off. "Help! Somebody, help!"

His other hand pulled out his sword, and raised it up. He pulled it up and plunged it into the Grimm's unarmored face. It shrieked in pain and let go, falling onto the ground.

It tried standing up again, but was put down by another stab, this time to the chest. Jaune threw Crocea Mors to the side, and took a few deep breaths of air. He felt a bit of ironic happiness, realizing that it was his first proper Grimm kill.

The euphoria did not last when seven more sets of red eyes stalked him from behind.

The first Beowulf was batted to the side by his arm. The second crashed onto him. He fell to the ground, and stunned the Beowulf with a heavy blow to the forehead.

He heaved the Grimm off, and scrambled for his sword. He threw his body around, and caught another Beowulf on his sword. It pushed, deadlocked with his strength. The remaining Beowolves stepped out, and formed a ring around him. The largest one stepped out, and raised its claw to tear off his face.

A red blur swept through, and liberated the first Grimm of its head. The other beowolves backed off. They snarled, turning towards the figure. One by one they leaped after it.

The second Grimm was blasted into chunks. The figure darted forwards.

The third was cut in half at the waist.

The fourth's head flew out in an arc.

The fifth was kicked to the ground and bashed into the earth.

The sixth was impaled onto a tree, and the seventh was executed cleanly, severed at the neck.

Ruby ambled forwards, and reaches out her arm. Jaune grabbed her hand, and pulled himself up, panting. "Thanks for the help," he said. "I could've taken them out on my own," he added.

"No problem," she replied, ignoring his second statement. Jaune walked over to his sword, and picked it up. He dropped it back into the sheath. His left arm was matted with blood, punctured at two points. "Hey, are you okay? You seem to be bleeding on your arm," Ruby asked, concerned.

Jaune quickly hid his arm behind his back and turned towards Ruby. "What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine." He realized that his arm actually stung. A lot. He bit back the pain and tried to put up a relaxed front.

Ruby eyed him suspiciously. "If you say so. . ." she hesitantly replied. "Anyways, we should get back to Beacon. People might notice us missing." She turned around and walked away, picking through the underbrush. Jaune followed after her and jogged to her side.

"Hey, how long have you been training as a huntress?"

Ruby counted the years in her mind. "Ni- Seven years," she replied. She silently cursed at herself for stumbling.

Jaune counted the years on his finger. "You started when you were eight?"

"Yeah. When did you start?"

"Oh, um, when I was nine," he replied after some thought.

 _And you can't even kill unarmored Grimm? Yeah. Likely story._

"So, why do you use a scythe?"

"My uncle has one too," she replied.

"Is your entire family hunters?"

"Yep."

The two of them walked back mostly in silence, dotted with idle conversation. They stepped back onto Beacon grounds. Jaune noted that the wound on his arm had already turned into an itch, skin mended. He touched the new skin with his finger. Pain flared, and he winced.

"Hey, I'm not feeling the best," He stated, faking a cramp. "I'm gonna go to the infirmary."

"Okay, see you later," Ruby waved after him. She turned around, smile fading.

 _About Cardin. . ._


	6. Deceit

A few days had passed and the group sat down at the same table again. Plates clattered on the table and chairs groaned as they were pulled out.

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..." Nora's ominous voice sounded across the table. Ren put his hand to his forehead.

"It was day, and you've already told this one," he said.

"We were surrounded by Ursai. . ."

"Beowolves."

"There were dozens of them!" She stood up and pushed her seat back. Pyrrha politely listened while Ruby leaned back into her chair, acting interested while maintaining a dead emptiness in her eyes.

"There were only two."

"And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" She finished, looking more like Thor every passing moment.

" _Sigh_. She's been having this recurring dream for over a month," Ren explained. He started on his food once he was certain Nora had nothing more to say.

The rest of the group followed suit. "Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked, concerned.

The teen picked at his food, not having eaten a single bite. His head jerked up as he snapped out of his trance. "Huh, oh, yeah! Why?" he stammered.

"You look depressed, not okay," Ruby pointed out. The rest of the group stopped eating and turned their heads towards him.

"Yeah, you've been in abject misery for over a week by now," Weiss added.

"Guys, I'm okay! Look!" He put up a brittle smile that cracked at the edges. The group eyed him. He broke into a robotic laugh complimented by a stiff thumbs up. His eyes moved about. They stopped.

The group followed his vision to find Cardin and his team, standing over a rabbit-eared girl. His friend put two hands up to his head and mimed being a rabbit, drawing roaring laughter from the rest of team CRDL. Ruby rolled her eyes at the scene.

Pyrrha jerked her head back. "Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the second day of school!" she exclaimed.

"Who, Cardin Winchester? Nah, he just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes." He waved his hand in the air, acting as if Cardin bullying Jaune was the most hilarious thing in the world.

"Jaune, he's been bullying you for the last two weeks and no amount of denial is going to stop that," Ruby interjected. She sent a glare to drive the point home.

"Woah, okay, you kinda sounded like Goodwitch there," he deflected. Another glare was sent his way. "Maybe I'm being bullied. A little," he finally admitted, defeated. Ruby leaned back into her chair.

Pyrrha broke the silence. "If you ever need help, you can just ask," she offered.

Nora stood up with a diabolical grin. "Ooh, we'll break his legs!" she said while rubbing her hands together sinisterly.

 _Yeah, and watch him as he turns out to be Mercury 2.0._

The very thought of Mercury put a dark streak on her thoughts. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the memories.

"Look, he doesn't just bully me, he bullies everybody!" Jaune said. Loud laughter sounded from a nearby table. The group looked back towards Cardin and Velvet.

Cardin wrapped his hands around one of Velvet's ears, and tugged upwards. "Ow, that hurt!" The girl grimaced and tried warding Cardin off. "Please, stop. . ." she pleaded. The boy turned to his cronies. "See, I told you they were real!"

"What a freak!" the one with the mohawk loudly laughed. The rest of the group followed. It seemed that Cardin had grown bored though, so he let go of the ears and watched as the girl ran away.

 _And so the cycle of racism continues. Such is the world._

A deep scowl had formed on Pyrrha's face. "Atrocious, I can't stand people like him."

"He's not the only one," Blake spoke. Her eyes bored into Cardin's back as images of his being shredded upon a thousand knives ran through her head.

Yang turned and looked towards Ruby, staring at the scene in cold disinterest. "Hey, Rubes, you okay?" She asked. Ruby snapped out of her trance, emotion rising back into her face.

"Yeah. Racists are the worst," she said.

* * *

Ruby walked towards Oobleck's classroom, alone. She entered into the mostly-empty room. A few students milled around, idly chatting. She stood beside the door, and leaned against the wall.

Nora was the first to run into the classroom. She yelled something about explosions.

 _Heh, let's see how long that excitement lasts._

In strolled the rest of team RWBY and JNPR, Jaune trailing at the back. He slowed down, and Ruby ran up to him. "Hey, I didn't do the reading," she admitted.

Jaune looked at her tiredly. "Really?" he asked.

 _Not really, but I'm not going to tell you that._

Ruby conjured her best puppy eyes. "I heard there was something about this Fort Castle thingy. You know anything about it?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head. "Uh, there was a battle there, and the Faunus won. . . I think."

"How?" She asked. "Was there something about their eyes?"

He thought about it. "Didn't they have night vision or something?" he chanced.

Ruby snapped her fingers and nodded her head. "That sounds about right. Thanks!" She smiled and walked off to rejoin her team.

She sat beside the aisle, and waited. The seats filled up, and Oobleck began speaking in his usual rattling manner of speech. "I have an important announcement to make before today's class starts." He paused as the classroom went silent. "It is to Beacon's greatest displeasure that the scheduled field trip to Forever Falls shall be canceled due to increased Grimm activity." He paused a bit more to let the announcement settle in.

Needless to say, the classroom didn't receive the information well. Loud booing was heard between the complaints, and Oobleck had to almost yell to silence the classroom again. He looked around for any more dissenters. Once he was happy, he began again.

"Today we will be talking about the Faunus Rights Revolution, more well known as the Faunus War!" His mad rambling began again, and Ruby slowly dozed off.

Something caught her attention. She straightened up, one hand on her right hip.

 _Why do I still do this?!_ He shook her head and slacked back off into her chair, attention directed towards the green haired man currently leading the lecture.

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent!" he proclaimed, "What is the answer?"

Mr. Arc looked around, shook out of his stupor. "What was the question again?" he chanced, after a pause.

"Mr. Arc, I would advise you to listen more closely next time," Oobleck said. "What advantage did the Faunus have over General Lagune's forces at the Battle of Fort Castle?" he repeated.

"Oh, um," he scratched his head as he remembered an earlier conversation he had. "Oh, right, night vision," he answered.

"Well answered, Mr. Arc," Oobleck responded. Jaune sat a little straighter in his seat at the praise. "Now, moving on!"

* * *

The class ended, and Oobleck left the classroom. Ruby's eyes tracked Cardin as he left the classroom with his team, ahead of most of the class.

She followed team RWBY and JNPR out, trailing behind. Yang was loudly complaining about the canceled field trip. Weiss listened in agreement, while Blake was trying to shrink into the shadows. Nora was in a heated conversation with Ren, who was slowly turning grey.

Pyrrha spoke out again, to Jaune. "So what do you think of the training regime?" she asked.

Jaune looked around. "I mean like, it sounds like a great idea," he said, his feet shuffling around awkwardly "but I think I'm alright as I am." Pyrrha opened her mouth and looked at him, a little hurt, but decided not to press the issue.

The group walked up to their respective dorms, and bid goodbye. Ruby stepped in, and threw herself onto her bed.

 _Hope Pyrrha talks it through with Jaune._

 _Wait._

She sat up. _Oh shoot._

She took a pencil and tucked it in her pocket, and stepped towards the door. "Where ya going?" Yang asked, behind her.

"Oh, just realized I left something in Oobleck's class," Ruby lied. She shuffled out before Yang could respond, and walked down the hall for good measure. She stood around the corner for a minute or two, and returned.

Instead of entering her dorm, she knocked on team JNPR's. Ren opened the door.

Ruby glanced around Ren. _Yep, there's Pyrrha and Jaune. Ugh._ Next to them was Nora in her dreaded fitness outfit doing jumping jacks. "Get on the ground and do fifty push-ups!" she barked towards Pyrrha.

"Do you need anything, Ruby?" Ren asked in his dead polite voice.

"Oops, wrong door," Ruby said, embarrassed. Ren raised an eyebrow. "The hallway looks the same from both sides!" she complained. "Bye!" she quickly said before slamming the door closed.

She strode back to her dorm, and walked in.

"Hey, did you get what you were looking for. . . Or is there something else?" Yang prodded, her eyes narrowing playfully. "My little sis can't be sneaking out with someone, now?" A devilish grin formed.

Ruby took out the pencil she hid earlier, and showed it. "Just this pencil, and no."

 _Haha. Well, since I am 17. . . Still no._

Yang smirked and rolled her eyes. She flopped back onto her bed, and took out her scroll, swiping through her contacts.

* * *

Ruby was dreaming again.

She was standing with Weiss in the heart of a destroyed Vale. Two figures stood opposite to them, one with green hair, and another with grey. They stood there, watching her.

The green one flickered. Ruby turned around, and stabbed at Emerald Sustrai with the butt of her scythe.

The following battle passed in a blurred instance. The next moment, Mercury and Emerald were bleeding on the ground, blood flowing into the gutters. She was beside Weiss. A gaping red hole showed on her neck, and blood sputtered from it when she croaked. Their eyes met, and Weiss' eyes glossed over. The wound stopped flowing and her body turned cold.

First Yang, then Blake, then Weiss. . . The emptiness in Ruby's heart grew larger, and swallowed up her tears before they could leave her eyes. She kneeled there, looking at the dead body of her partner.

Perhaps it was concerning that she felt no sorrow. Perhaps it was concerning that she felt nothing but a burning hatred. A burning hatred for the woman responsible for all this.

She looked towards Beacon Tower, and placed down Weiss. _A burial can wait._

She turned and walked into the tower. She stepped into the elevator shaft, and shot upwards, a trail of blood-red petals falling behind.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not exactly good with dialogue, which this fic mostly will be until the pace picks up. Any feedback is welcome :)**


	7. Panorama

Ruby's eyes flicked open, dry and colorless. Her arm pushed her blanket off of her and reached for a pen and paper. She scribbled down a message for Yang.

"I'm going out for weapon mods! Vale probably has sooo many cool places to go to!" the card read.

 _Sounds close enough._

She dropped down and propped the card up on her swaying mattress. It was visible from the floor, so Yang was sure to see it. She then grabbed Crescent Rose by the handle, and slid out of the room, carefully opening the door as to not make a sound. Blake turned her head and murmured something. Ruby snapped her head back.

 _It's just Blake._ She gently closed the door.

She walked down the hallway and down the stairs. The morning air was cold when she left the building. _Ugh. It's cold today._

 _Not as bad as Atlas, anyways._

A trip on the airship and a short walk later, and she was at the Vale train station. She was standing in the main lobby, a huge, cavernous room housing the seating area for the station. The lobby had a large window on one end overseeing Vale. The opposite side sported multiple shops and vendors. The remaining two were lined with entry points to the level below, reading from one to twenty. The cold marble wall pressed into her back as she stared at the time table projected near the roof.

A ticket was held in between her fingers. She raised it to her eyes, and read the letter sequence on it.

 _O8I9. . ._ She looked towards the time table and scanned the dense lines of red text. _Ah. Station 2B._

She weaved towards the station, making her way through the crowds. The gates had already opened, and a short line had formed. A woman tiredly snipped the tickets at the front. A tall security gate stood next to the ticket counter, holding up a thin blue film.

Ruby took her position at the back.

The line moved swiftly, and she found herself at the front in ten minutes. The man in front of her, clad in a formal business suit, pushed a card into one of the machines. A light on it flashed green, and the card popped back out. The man took it and walked forwards, through the security gate. The blue film wrapped around him. It beeped, and the film receded. The man continued on.

Ruby followed into his place. She handed over her ticket. The sullen woman waved it in front of the scanner and proceeded to tear off the front end. The rest was handed the back to Ruby, who stepped into the security gate.

"Weaponry detected. Please show a suitable license or you will be apprehended," a voice droned over her head.

"Oops." she took her Beacon id and waved it in front of the gate's scanner.

"Huntress ID detected. Permission granted."

She smiled and walked through. The door was already held open, and she descended the stairs. They led into an open space with multiple train tracks. The closest platform already had a few people lining up. She walked towards the far back end and stood behind a short line. The man in front of her had his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets, and was staring at the ground. His hand reached up to his mouth and twitched slightly as he threw away the burnt stub of a cigarette.

The train arrived, and the platform emptied. Ruby sat at a window seat. She lied back and turned her head towards the window. The compartment didn't quite fill up, and a few seats, including the one next to her, were free.

She focused her gaze on the view outside. The train lurched forwards, slowly picking up speed. It wasn't long before the view distorted and warped into a flash of colors, zooming by the window. She tilted her head back and stared forwards.

Her mind was blank for a moment and she enjoyed the peace, but thoughts and suspicions returned.

 _Why Forever Falls? Grimm are attracted to negativity, but nothing happened there last time. . . Certainly nothing to stop a field trip solely comprised of Hunters._

She focused for a moment and racked her brain.

 _Something's different._

 _But I don't know what it is._

She rubbed her forehead and lied back into her chair. An exasperated sigh left her lips. _I shouldn't be doing this._

No, she thought. That's wrong. She was doing this to stop Salem and save her friends. That was all the reasons she needed. The thought calmed her, but it wasn't long before the nagging suspicion returned.

Before she could think any further, something else took her attention. The man from earlier had stood up. His left hand reached out to push himself up, but his right hand was still buried in his pocket. Ruby rolled her eyes. _Not my problem._

Some time passed, and a scream resounded from the front. He was sprawled over the floor, two tranquilizer rounds planted in his back and a shard of glass in his right hand.

* * *

 _We never did enter the town during our field trip, did we?_

Forever Falls looked different when Ruby left the terminal. For one, all of the tourist stores were closed or boarded up. Not many people were on the streets, and anybody who was there had their faces covered, were staring at the pavement and had their hands stuffed in their pockets.

 _It looks like I could be mugged here and nobody would bat an eye._ She walked down the street, looking into the closed stores.

 _Anyways, I should start from the bars, I guess. Nobody would care about a minor drinking in a place like this._

The bar was dimly lit and moody, the air itself stale and suppressing. Dust lamps on the walls illuminated the room, and a set of windows against the wall scattered rays of light against the counter. Two patrons sat at the farthest end of the counter from the entrance, both minding their own business and silently sipping their drinks. A lonely stage stood against the wall, an untouched microphone propped up. A thin layer of dust coated everything.

A figure sat in the corner, cast in shadows. It brought its drink up to its lips and took a sip. Ruby felt its eyes focus on her.

She walked up and sat on one of the stools lining the counter. The bartender eyed her suspiciously. "Aren't ya a bit young to be here?" he asked. He put down the cup he was polishing. He placed his hands on the counter. His elbow brushed against the cup and tipped it over. It rattled as it hit the counter.

 _Ugh. This'll take a while._ She slid over some lien. "I'm older than I look," she said. She also threw in a threatening look for good measure.

"Ah. A misunderstanding," the bartender said. _He's used to bribes, huh._ "What do you want."

"I've heard rumors about Grimm activity around here. How true are they?" she asked.

"I can tell you it's not Grimm."

"Then what is it."

"I don't know."

Ruby slipped over another lien bill. "I'm sure you remember," she said. The bartender raised his eyebrow. She pulled the money back and made a move to turn around.

"Oh yes, I have a friend who thinks it might be the White Fang. He's not quite right in the head, but who knows?" Ruby nodded and pushed the money back, slipping out of her seat. Leaving the establishment, Ruby walked back into the cold autumn of Forever Falls.

 _So, White Fang? I guess it does kind of make sense. This place looks wracked with poverty._

 _This is near where Blake hijacked the train, right? I should probably check that area out first._

A crow flew above her head. It landed on a tree branch and stared at Ruby. She turned and entered a run towards the outskirts of the town, and into the forest. The road led off into the distance, moving past buildings and deep into the forest. She ran until the road ended at an outpost. A truck was parked in the corner, and the toll booth was empty.

 _Well, nobody would mind._

Ruby took out her scroll and showed a light into the dark booth. It lit up a computer and a chair, but nothing else. She pushed the windows up and reached in. Her hands grappled around for a while and unlocked the door. She stepped in.

She snatched a map from a neat stack in the corner. Then, she turned to the emergency locker. She smashed the glass open with her elbow and took out the fire axe.

Then, she set out into the forest.

* * *

She cut through the thorns with the fire axe, leaving a trail of damaged foliage. The vegetation opened into a glade with a patch of blood in the center. It was still fresh and was smeared across the grass and the underbrush. No blood led to or from the patch, though. It was as if something started bleeding there, and died in the same spot. A poacher.

 _But why here? In the one tiny reserve of this massive forest?_ She walked out to the center and kneeled down, searching for any hair.

She heard a ruffling to the left of her. _There's somebody here._ Her heartbeat rose, and she slowed down her movements. Everything from here was to be calculated.

Apparently, the hidden figure didn't think so. She charged out into the clearing, claws out. Her vest had the White Fang insignia on it, and her eyes were covered with their infamous Grimm mask.

 _New recruit,_ Ruby thought. She might be able to get some information out of her later.

She turned and reached her feet out, tripping the girl. Crescent Rose unfolded, cutting into the faunus' throat. Ruby pulled the girl's head up by her hair. One foot pushed down on her back. "Don't scream and I won't kill you," she muttered.

The girl gulped hastily. She winced as a trickle of blood ran from her throat. "O- okay," she stammered.

"Good. Are you part of the White Fang."

"Y-yes."

"What were you doing here?"

"Hunting a-animals."

"What's your rank."

"N-new recruit."

"Where are you stationed," Ruby asked. The girl stayed quiet. Crescent Rose dug deeper into her neck. "Where are you stationed," she asked again.

"T-there's a base that's north of here." The girl gasped for breath.

Ruby laid out the map from earlier. The girl frantically jabbed at an area right above a turn in the train tracks. "Anything else I should know?"

"Y-yeah, this guy called Torchwick is coming around for inspections today."

 _Oh, come on. Well, that means I can't go in, security's gonna be crazy high._

The girl raised her voice again. "Can I go now, please?" Ruby eyed her. She pulled away Crescent Rose.

The girl collapsed on the ground as the slit on her throat bled her dry. Ruby turned around and walked away. A wake of vultures was waiting, staring from the treetops.

"What's one casualty in a revolution?" she mocked the figure on the ground.

* * *

Ruby felt invigorated. The sun shone brighter, and the woods smelt sweeter. She had also located two massive walls of stone, in between which shown a passageway that probably led to the White Fang base.

She ran between them and watched as the light behind her slowly dimmed. The passageway narrowed, and she had to turn sideways to slide between the rocks. It opened into a damp cavern.

 _What's this?_

A golden tear drop appeared above her. It stayed still for a moment and then stabbed down. _Deathstalker._

Said golden tear drop flew away in an arc and bounced off the ground, splattering it with slime. The deathstalker roared in pain, enraged. Ruby took out her scroll and turned on its flashlight.

The deathstalker recoiled, and she emptied four sniper rounds into its eyes. Each one collided in succession, stunning the Grimm. Ruby walked up and placed the tip of her scythe between the Grimm's flesh and its faceplate.

A loud bang echoed through the cave, and the chitin tore off. The deathstalker wailed one last time before collapsing to the ground.

Ruby diverted her attention to searching the cave. She lit up the walls with her scroll, scanning them for an exit. The wall was all stone but a single wooden door. _Am I in a cellar?_

She stood still, listening for any noise. Finding none, she advanced to the door.

Something else caught her attention, though. There were paintings on the walls. Simple crude drawings applied with traditional pigments. Some depicted Grimm, other ancient Hunters. A particularly large mural showed a figure kneeling down, holding licking flames in his hands. _Dust._

The far end of the room had a different painting from the rest, though. It depicted a black figure raising its arms. Grimm kneeled next to the figure, seemingly worshipping it. Its hands lit up with purple flames and held up a line. A triangle balanced upside down on the line and two spheres were painted on top of the triangle. One was silver while the other was red.

The room suddenly felt a lot more uncomfortable, and Ruby quickly walked back to the door. A loud croak came from the joints as it opened up, revealing a long stairway leading upwards. She climbed for what felt like an hour until she found another door. She walked through it and entered a hallway. More doors lined the sides. An old and dusty rug covered the floor.

There were images on the walls. They showed a family. A mother, father, and two children. _Somebody lived here._

A drawer was placed against the wall, topped with a vase of wilted flowers. She walked down the hallway, peering into the rooms. There were three rooms. Everything felt normal. It was almost as if the people living here just suddenly disappeared one day.

She found herself staring into the third room. There was something eerily familiar about it. She stood there, in conflict. Part of her wanted her to open the door. The other didn't. Her hand put itself on the doorknob, and turned. She winced as the door creaked open.

A table was against the wall, and a snuffed out lamp hanged from the roof. The room felt cozy. A rack was stood along the wall, weird clothing that Ruby had never seen hanging from it. A bunk bed took up most of the remaining space. The bed on top was overgrown with vines. The one below had a boy lying down, frozen in time. His hands were laid peacefully on top of his belly. He looked like he was ready for a funeral.

Ruby's heart skipped a beat. _What killed him?_ She forced herself to walk up to him, and placed a finger on his wrist. It was still warm.

She felt a pulse. _He's still alive._

Somehow that made her feel even more uncomfortable. She stood there, staring at the boy. She turned around and stepped out of the room, carefully closing the door.

 _Where's the other child?_

Part of her knew what happened, but she pushed it down. Now wasn't the time to dwell over memories. She pushed her feet over into the living room. A table was placed down in the center, surrounded by chairs.

A pang of homesickness ran through her, but she ignored it. A door stood on the opposite side from the hallway.

She pulled her eyes from the room and stepped forwards to the door. Light filtered in from it, and she pushed it open. She was back outside, overseeing a White Fang base. A bullhead flew over her, forcing her back into the real world. _Oh shoot._

She dived for cover behind a rock. Sensing that the bullhead didn't see her, she stepped out. A long series of steps trailed down from the side on the mountain, descending towards the base.

Ruby took a few careful steps downwards, hiding among the trees. She found a convenient outcrop, hiding behind it. She lied down and unfolded her scythe halfway. The scope popped out, and she leaned forwards, staring into it.

The bullhead from earlier had landed. A lieutenant walked up and gestured an order to a few recruits. The back of the bullhead opened, and the recruits heaved out a big metal crate. The lieutenant opened up the crate and took a handful of powder.

 _Dust? What are they doing with that?_

Another figure in a white suit and orange red hair walked up. He twirled his cane and pointed it towards a cargo container. The recruits visibly recoiled but pushed the crate over anyways.

 _Roman. I could go kill him now. . . And what good would that do? It'll just screw up the timeline and alert Cinder. No use._

Roman walked around a bit more, inspecting the base. Then, finally, Neo appeared and teleported him out. Ruby's scroll started ringing. _What, Yang?!_ She internally swore but accepted the call. _She'll go looking for me if I don't answer this._

She tipped her scroll upwards so Yang couldn't see the foliage around her.

"Hey, Rubes, how's Vale?" Yang asked. Her voice warped and twisted as the signal weakened.

"It's awesome! They have like everything here!" Ruby beamed.

"Anyways, curfew ends in like an hour or so, so you should come back and NOT spend two whole days staring at guns while I search for you, okay?"

"Hey, that was like a year ago," Ruby smiled. "Anyways, see ya then, bye!"

"Don't forget!"

Ruby closed the call and lied back down. _Ugh. Looks like I'll be going back now._ She retraced her steps, passing through the dwelling and exiting between the rocks. The girl's corpse was already gone when she passed by. Nothing was left. No blood, no clothing, no hair. The forest had consumed her, and it thrived ever more slightly.

* * *

"What did I say about getting here before curfew?!" Yang remarked. Her eyes glowed red as she towered over Ruby.

"The terminal was delayed," Ruby frantically apologized. The train to Vale had arrived half an hour late.

Yang stared down Ruby. Sensing a bit of truth, she let it go. "So, what did you get?"

"There's too much stuff, I couldn't choose!" She pouted and threw herself onto her bed. Yang stared at her sister. She erupted laughing and climbed onto her bed.

"Ahahaha, I forgive you," she said after she pushed down her laughter. She shifted position and knocked Ember Cecilia off the bed. "Oops."

Ruby smiled as she pulled up her blankets. She dozed off when she felt something. A familiar set of eyes were peering into her. She turned to face the window, but there was no one. Just a black feather lying on the balcony.

She should have been concerned or alarmed, but weariness reigned supreme and she fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

 **I tried to put more description in this chapter, seeing how the previous ones were like 99% dialogue (and were kinda stale). I also took a jab at world building since seeing Beacon 24/7 is boring. Did it work?**


	8. Schadenfruede

Schadenfreude. Pleasure derived from somebody's misfortune.

Ruby would have liked to admit she didn't feel so much anticipation for it when her name was called out. But then, it was probably sadism.

The scoreboard projected above the arena showed two portraits. Ruby Rose and Cardin Winchester. She had originally planned to see to him after class, but it seemed like that was going to be unnecessary.

 _I'll just crack a few bones, maybe fracture his skull. Call it an accident._

 _Or maybe I'll defeat him without Crescent Rose. Rub the salt into his wound. Or without touching him once._ Her mind ran through all of the scenarios she could force upon the poor boy. _Eh, probably don't need him going off in a stretcher. Just scaring would do. He's not the brave type underneath._

The two stood in the arena. They walked up to the center and shook hands. He squeezed, tightly. Ruby smiled politely and waited for him to let go. _Heh. Amateur. This'll be fun._

Cardin squeezed tighter, trying to illicit a reaction. He towered over Ruby. She returned the stare with one of her own, unbreaking, not blinking once. They stood there for a few seconds and then backed off into their respective halves. Cardin heaved up his mace. Ruby stood still, unmoving. _I think I know what I'll do. Wear him down unarmed, and then_ dislocate _his arms or something._

His mace dropped to the ground, clattering against it. He advanced, his weapon scraping against the ground behind him. Ruby stood still, silently waiting for him. Her hands held still at her side, and her gaze focused on her opponent. They pierced him and reminded him of his worst nightmares. He trembled a bit, but put the tough act back on and continued.

He entered a charge when he neared her. A heavy swing was sent towards her way. She hummed a tune and turned to the side, narrowly avoiding the mace. The blow would have knocked her out instantly if it had connected.

It swept sideways. She backed off. Cardin went in for another slam. He missed again, by a millimeter. Every single one of his attacks grazed Ruby, narrowly. She moved around him like a specter, not attacking once. Every time he missed he was presented with another weakness in his offense. If he swung this way, she could just step that way. If he moved forwards, she would just move back this much to compensate. She was proving to him that she knew him inside out. How he attacked, how he moved around, and how he kept his guard up.

The thought made him furious, and he roared in anger. He charged forwards but his foot caught on something, and he tripped, planting face first into the dirt. He tried pushing himself up.

A foot slammed into the side of his head, and he tumbled a few feet. Stars flew around his eyes, and when he could see again, Ruby was standing, motionless. _I really shouldn't be liking this so much_ , she thought.

 _But so what if I am?_

Ruby watched as Cardin struggled to push himself up. She readied her fists. The boy charged. Blow after blow she hit him, exploiting every opening. They were weak, she knew. It would only prolong the shame and embarrassment. Nothing hurts more than shame.

Cardin lashed out again. This time, Ruby knocked the mace out of his hand. They clattered on the ground. He readied his own fist, but she had grown bored. She suddenly disappeared and smashed her fist into his chin, knocking him to the ground. Her knuckles hurt, but she ignored it and advanced.

A foot was planted on Cardin's back, pushing him back into the gravel. It bit into his face and his vision got blurry as he struggled to breathe. "Yield," Ruby commanded over him.

He grunted "No." A Winchester never surrendered, and he wouldn't here. There was an honor in the family to uphold. The foot on his back disappeared. He struggled back onto his feet, aching all over.

"Alright then." Crescent Rose unfolded, and Ruby entered a stance. The boy immediately began regretting his decision. Honor be damned. If he didn't surrender now, he was going to die!

"No! I-"

 _Let's dance._

She barreled towards him in a shower of petals. She stabbed into his chest plate with the butt of her scythe, knocking the wind out of him. He stumbled back, against the wall. Ruby retracted her scythe and shot forwards again. Her knee slammed into his gut, cracking the wall behind him. He retched and fell forwards, but was pushed back into the wall by a metal barrel. "Do you yield now?"

The gun barrel choked him and he forced out a gurgle. "Didn't hear ya," she mocked.

He felt his consciousness slip, barely noticing the dark edges closing onto his vision.

"That's enough!" a voice boomed over the arena. Ruby pulled back her gun and locked it back into its holster. She skipped away, out to the center of the arena.

Cardin kneeled over and puked. It was laced with blood. He tried standing up, swerved, and almost fell over. He stumbled over to the walkways out of the arena. Then, he suddenly fell to the ground. His body stayed still and a pair of medics came out, clad in white robes. They heaved his body onto a stretcher and followed it as it floated away.

 _Looks like I broke him._

A furious Glynda stormed into the arena. "We need to talk about this now," she said, "I think Ozpin would want to see you."

* * *

Ruby entered the office with her escort. Copper gears twirled above her head, and the headmaster sat in his seat, reserved. A cup of coffee sat on his table.

"Please come take a seat, Ruby," he said. She walked forwards and sat down in the chair opposite of Ozpin. Glynda stormed up behind her.

"This girl almost beat a student to death!" she remarked. "It says on her tests that she's terrible at hand to hand combat, but guess what?! She walks up, kites him around for a minute, beats the living hell out of him with her bare hands, ignores his pleas for surrender, and then tries to execute him!" She waved her arms around, unable to vent the anger.

Ozpin sat in deep thought for a moment. "Where did you learn to do that, Ruby?"

"Uncle Qrow taught me?" she chanced. _Looks like I did beat him up too hard. Nothing will come of it, though. I do possess his precious silver eyes, after all._ She leaned back into her chair.

"And you somehow become a genius in unarmed combat within a few months? You are aware your records say that you can't defeat a single Grimm without your weapon, aren't you? Lying in your records is punishable, and trying to kill a student can get you expelled."

"I didn't try to kill him."

"Alright then. Grievously injure. You hurt him so badly he's entered a coma."

Oh _shoot. That was a bit too much._ She hid the surprise and kept up the stoic mask. "You can't expel me though. I have something you need," she said.

"And what would that be?"

"My eyes." She tapped the side of her head for effect.

"So, you know?" His eyes narrowed, and he lost his relaxed air. _I'm not playing by his rules._

"It's the first thing you said to me."

The two looked at each other, in an uneasy standstill. Ozpin was the one to give way. He sighed. "You're right, I can't expel you." A long silence followed. "Why did you do what you did?"

"I'm just repaying a favor." _I play my cards close to my chest, too._ He waited for a follow-up, but there was none.

"You may leave." She stood up and walked away to the door. Ozpin's voice sounded across the office. "I may have to reconsider my priorities if this. . . repeats. Silver eyes are not a power to be abused."

She sent a cold glare towards him. "I understand more than you do."

She turned and walked out into the elevator. The doors closed and a whirring noise sounded. She stood there, in silence. The four walls were plain and a single light stood overhead. Ruby idly stared at the ceiling, following the decor down to the walls.

She traced a path down to the floor and was about to reach the elevator door when a ring sounded and it slid open. She walked out and bumped by a blond haired boy. _Jaune? What the heck are you doing now. . ._

He was staring at the ground, slouched over. He mumbled something, wearing an agitated look. "Hey, Jaune, are you okay?" she asked. Why are you walking towards Ozpin's office?

"Oh! Hey, Ruby. . . Yeah! I'm fine!" He put up a fake smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "You didn't need to beat up Cardin for me, you know, it's fine."

"I hate him too. Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"Oh um, you know, nothing too interesting." Ruby eyed him suspiciously. "Seriously, it's nothing."

"It's not nothing," she said. "I can tell."

He sighed and a troubled expression broke through his smile. "Fine. I don't think I'm cut out to be a leader. I'm going to talk to Ozpin about making Ren or Pyrrha team leader."

 _What?! When did this happen?_ Her eyes widen up in surprise.

"What?! You can't do that! Ozpin trusted you to be the leader. You can't just dump your duty like that!"

"But it's just Ozpin! Nobody else believes I'm suited!"

"Jaune, the only person that's ever questioned your leadership is Cardin. And he's currently in the infirmary, unconscious," she pointed out. "Plus, I believe in you too, and so does your team! Being a leader doesn't mean being able to fight. It means being able to lead your team to victory and to be able to keep them together in the darkest hour. Your team believes you. They'll follow you to the end of the world."

 _Ironic I'm here giving the advice when I'm the one with the greatest failures. You're better than me. You won't abandon your friends in their time of need. It's what makes you inspire them, bond with them._

 _It's also what killed you._

"Really Ruby? You think that's the case?" he asked, skeptically.

She snapped out of her memories and gave him a small nostalgic smile. "Out of the bottom of my heart."

"Alright. I believe you." A hesitant smile formed on his face. This time, a real one. He turned around, and walked away from the elevator door, but turned back one more time.

"Thanks for believing in me," he said. "And one last thing, you didn't need to do that to Cardin."

Ruby stood there, watching him turn around the corner until she closed her eyes. She placed a hand on her forehead as it throbbed. _Sigh. Looks like I'll be having nightmares tonight._ A warm smile formed on her face, nonetheless.

She followed and set out back to her dorm, entering a brisk pace. The air was warm when she left the main building and she slowed down. The moon was already out, watching over Beacon. Its soft glow imbued everything with a dreamlike quality. The pathway was made of smooth brick and was elevated above the rest of the garden. She stopped and sat down on the edge, her feet dangling a few feet above the ground.

Someone tapped on her shoulder. Pyrrha was standing by her side.

"Hey, Pyrrha."

"Hello, Ruby." She sat down next to her, staring out towards the moon too. They observed it in silence for a moment. "Have you ever wondered what it's like up there?"

"I guess it's. . ." Ruby searched for the word. "Peaceful."

"Yeah." Pyrrha smiled. "Just imagine sitting up there, staring down at Remnant. Maybe there really is somebody up there, thinking the same as us."

"It must be great to be away from all the war, conflict, poverty. Just you and the world," Ruby said, "Alone with your thoughts."

"You know, being a champion fighter doesn't give much free time. Every second you're outside, somebody wants your autograph, somebody wants to fight you, somebody's taking pictures of you. Every day of your life is either participating in a competition or going to one. There's no time to slow down and think." She took a deep breath.

The two sat in a calm silence for a while, lost in their own worlds. Fireflies danced in the warm summer air, and the trees floated on the cool breeze. Ruby felt herself loosen up. The view felt like a dream. A pleasant one, too. Those were rare.

Ruby spoke again. "I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. You know, help people find a place without Grimm."

"Really?" Pyrrha asked. "What changed?"

"I realized I couldn't find a better world, so I just settled on improving the current one. That's why I'm a Huntress."

"Well, I can't boast such noble intentions. I just wanted to get away from all the Pyrrha fan clubs over at Mistral."

"You sure there aren't any here?"

"I haven't been stalked in over a month," Pyrrha said with a sense of pride.

"You sound more proud than when you mentioned you won four tournaments in a row," she pointed out, amused.

"And I should be," she laughed. "Anyways, did you see Jaune anywhere? He wasn't back at the dorm."

"Oh, I bumped into him the way back from Ozpin's office. He's probably somewhere near the dorm. Have you tried the roofs yet?"

"No, I haven't." She smiled and stood up. "It was nice talking with you, Ruby."

"You too, Pyrrha."

She walked away and Ruby was left alone, sitting by herself. She looked back towards the moon. They stared at each other, but it became late and Ruby stood up to return to her dorm.

* * *

Ruby dreamed the deaths of Team RNJR. They were running down the street. This time, not a street of Beacon. A street of Haven.

But it didn't matter. People were dying, civilization was crumbling again, and Grimm were chasing after them. The four charged through a thick layer of smoke. They saw the helipad when they broke out. Ruby and Jaune ran for it when she saw it. They boarded the bullhead. Then, they noticed something was wrong.

"Hey, where's Ren and Nora?!" Jaune yelled. His eyes darted around the street, looking for his friends. They caught onto some movement in the thick wall of smoke.

A voice yelled from within it. "Help!"

Jaune and Ruby turned to run back. A pair of hands reigned them back in. Qrow looked them in the eye. "They're dead. You go help them now, and you die too. I don't like the situation either, but we have to cut our losses." The bullhead started trembling, slowly lifting off of the ground.

"What are you talking about?! I have my silver eyes! We can fight off the Grimm!"

"And fry our only escape route? You don't have any control over your eyes. This bullhead runs on dust. Dust that will explode if you do anything." Ruby looked at him with incredulity. "You almost killed Cinder that way. She was wearing dust infused clothes. They blew up on her."

The ship rocked as a Nevermore smashed into it. A grinding sound came from the walls as the Grimm tore off the armor plating. Qrow took out his weapon. Two loud bangs later and the Grimm was howling in pain and flailing its wings.

Ruby looked at him and a scowl formed on her face. "We can do this," she said with a sense of finality. She turned around morphing into a red streak. She almost cleared the edge of the Bullhead when a searing pain sprouted from her leg and she collapsed on the floor. A needle was stuck in it. Semblance inhibitor.

"Jaune!" He took the opening to leap off the aircraft and ran into the smoke. Ruby felt something deep inside her activate as she watched in terror. It spread and permeated every inch of her body. It started drawing strength and energy, collecting it in her eyes.

Jaune stumbled out with Nora behind, dragging Ren. His left half was bloodied, and a dark streak ran down his arm. They yelled for help, but the bullhead was already too far away for it to be heard. A white haze surrounded Ruby's vision.

"I'm sorry." Something bludgeoned the back of her head and everything went black.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: This will NOT be Lancaster. The fic's planned out already, and there's just** not **room** or **a purpose for a ship. Sorry. :p**

 **(Even though Exiled wants it to be Lancaster… :'( *single tear* -Exiled)**


	9. Setup

"I heard there were a few teams coming from Vacuo for the Vytal festival," Weiss idly said, reading through a textbook for the fifth time. "Do you want to go greet them?" She put her book down as she offered her proposal.

"Why at 7 AM on a weekend?" Yang murmured from within a heap of blankets. She tried raising her arm, but gave up halfway through and let it fall back down.

"Not interested," Blake spoke.

"The most prestigious teams are probably coming. Don't you want to go greet them?" Weiss asked.

"No," Yang groaned from within her blanket fortress.

"Why can't we go watch some movies or something?" Ruby asked. "And not go stare at boats?"

Weiss twitched. "You're all coming, whether you like it or not."

"I'm not going," Ruby said. "The sun's a bit strong, don't you think? Right, Yang?" _Come on Yang, back me up here._

"I second this," a muffled voice said from within the heap of blankets.

"Yang, it's all sun and no clouds. It's literally your favorite weather. Same goes for you, Ruby." Weiss said. "We're still going. You can stay here if you want, Ruby."

"How about me?" Yang asked.

"No."

"Why?"

"To spite you."

"Oh come on. No fair!" she threw off her blankets and sat up to properly complain.

Ruby crossed her arms. "It's Ssaturday morning. Why can't we just, like, sleep in? Relish the time we have before the midterms? Heck, I'll _study._ And so will Yang."

"Yeah! Wait, what?"

"Quoting your sister, we'll always have time on Sunday."

 _This isn't going anywhere._ Ruby sent a glare. "Ugh. Alright, fine. I'll go."

* * *

The sun bore down from a cloudless sky, and people were milling around, putting up decorations. A set of cruisers lined the docks, anchored to the coast. A battleship sat farther down in the ocean patrol sector, ready to move out if any Grimm were to emerge from the sea. A paintbrush laid over a gear was printed on the side, branding it as Atlas tech.

 _This place reeks of fish._

Weiss was ranting. "Ah, the Vytal Festival. A celebration of the diverse cultures from around the world. This is truly wonderful!" she exclaimed. She took a deep breath, taking in the festivities.

Yang rolled her eyes. "You pulled me out of bed for this?"

"You need to cheer up! I heard they have all sorts of food," Ruby smiled.

Yang snapped awake. "Wait, food?" she asked, looking around. "Why didn't somebody tell me about this? Where? You're the best, Weiss!" She pulled Weiss in for a bear hug and got shunted away.

"I'm not going to tell you," Weiss taunted.

"Why?" A desperate tone crept into Yang's voice.

Ruby joined it. "Well, you did burn down that store once," she chirped.

"Oh come on, that was only once! I take my word back, you all suck." Yang returned to sulking, energy drained.

"Look, the boats from Vacuo are over there," Weiss pointed out towards the sea. The boats were emptying, trickles of people leaving and entering Vale. She pulled out a notebook and started writing on it.

"Hey, can we not go over there? It reeks of fish." Ruby asked, going ignored.

"Weiss, what are you doing?" Yang asked. She leaned forwards and looked over Weiss' shoulder.

Blake spoke for once. "Yeah, you look like a stalker."

"You two, quiet." Weiss glared towards them. "And Yang, get out of my personal space." She stopped writing when a group of people gathered around a store grabbed their attention. Yellow security tape was draped over the front, and a few police officers pushed the group forming around the crime scene away. "What's that?" Weiss asked.

 _Great._ "How about we _not_ go over there?" Ruby asked. "It just looks like a robbery, nothing special." Her team ignored her and went ahead, turning around the corner and leaving her sight.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Guess I'll just have to break them up later," she muttered under her breath.

She ran after them and stopped at the outskirts of the crowd, next to her team. Two police officers stood beside the crowd, idly chatting. "Who did this?" Yang asked. The windows were covered in spider web cracks and bullet holes. The store was dark and a few racks had fallen over inside.

"Maybe it's the White Fang," Weiss chanced. "This sounds like something those awful degenerates would do." Blake recoiled a little and advanced to say something, frowning.

Ruby dived in, trying to salvage the situation. "Well, how would you know it was the White Fang? It could've been that Roman guy I ran into a while back for all we know."

"And why would he need dust? Whoever's responsible for these robberies isn't taking any lien. It's obviously those White Fang scum."

Whatever little hope Ruby had left of walking away unharmed was smothered. _It's almost like we're fated to go through this mess._

"What's your problem?" Blake cut in. She stepped in front of Weiss, pushing Ruby away.

"My problem? The White Fang are a group of psychopaths. Have you seen what they've done?" Weiss waved her arm towards the store.

Blake scowled. "They're not psychopaths, they're just misguided!"

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of Remnant!"

"Alright then. Very misguided. Still doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale." Her scowl deepened.

"And why would anybody else do the same? The White Fang have the same, if not more, reason to have a massive stash of _highly explosive powder._ "

"And why exactly would the White Fang need something like that-"

Somebody yelled from the docks. A monkey tailed faunus leaped from a lamp post and ran up the docks. _This is it. Fate's trying to screw me over. Why, Sun? WHY?_

Ruby gritted her teeth and followed as her team chased after him. They turned the corner only to meet thin air, watching as he climbed the fire stairways upwards.

"Where did he go?" Weiss asked. Yang pointed upwards. "Ugh. That filthy thief. Give him some time and he'll probably join up with-"

"I think what Weiss is trying to say is that he's a bad person because he broke the law," Ruby interjected. "Right, Weiss?"

"Stop patronizing me! What I'm saying is that people like him are where the White Fang gets its ranks from!" She glared at Blake, driving the insult home.

 _Sigh. It was worth a try._

Blake bared her teeth. "You ignorant little brat!" she growled. "Just because he's a faunus means he's going to join a terrorist group, is that what you mean?!"

Yang spoke from the sidelines. "We should probably go-"

"So you admit it, the White Fang _are_ terrorists." A vicious grin formed on her face as she relished in her temporary victory.

"That's not what I meant, stop twisting my words! Although I shouldn't expect anything more from a _Schnee._ " Blake emphasized the name as if it was the plague.

 _Great. You've done it now, Blake. There's no salvaging this anymore. Actually, that was gone the moment Weiss opened her mouth._

The two continued arguing even when they returned to the dorms. Scathing words were thrown around and the arguing felt a lot more fierce than she remembered. It had actually gotten to the point where Yang had stood up and left without a word, and nobody noticed. They were just that enamored in their argument.

Ruby's frustration had neared its breaking point. _Oh my god, will you two just shut up?! You, Blake, don't know a damn thing about what the White Fang have done and can do, and you, Weiss, are a generalizing idiot!_ She barely restrained herself from screaming it out loud and just resorted to lying down and stifling her hearing.

"You realize you're defending an organization that hates Humanity, do you?!"

"There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like you and Cardin that force them to take such drastic measures!"

"They're close enough to pure evil as they are," Ruby interjected. Blake and Weiss redirected their attention to her.

"Oh, not you too now. What do YOU know about the White Fang?!"

"I know that they're involved in high profile assassinations. I know that they have no regard for life, faunus or human. I know that they tote around the name of faunus rights and instead use it to commit atrocities. The White Fang are the only ones benefiting from faunus racism, and you know it too," she snarled.

Blake was lost for words for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something, but Ruby cut her off. She sat up and stared into Blake's eyes. "The White Fang are scum. They lie, they steal, and they murder all in the name of a fake revolution."

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

"We?" Weiss repeated. "What do you mean by 'we?!'"

Blake looked in shock. She tried to say something but turned and ran. The door closed after her. "Blake. . . Blake's part of the White Fang?!" Weiss said. Her shock wore off. "What did I expect from someone like her? That probably means she's a faunus too. Ribbon she never takes off, weird eyes, and fangs. I should've seen it coming a mile away. . ."

Ruby, however, had toned out Weiss' words. _Maybe I shouldn't have been that harsh. . ._ _It was going to happen anyways,_ she consoled herself. She still felt an unpleasant feeling at the pit of her stomach. _Why did I think something different was going to happen? Well now she's going to run off with Sun and then they'll go to the docks and then Penny will save them._ A sense of dread creeped into her. _It's happening again._

 _Wait, Penny? Where's Penny?!_

 _Fuck._ Her dread multiplied as she realized her mistake.

"I'm going to track her down," she said as she stood up and grabbed her scythe.

Weiss looked at her and rolled her eyes. "Why would you want to chase down a criminal?"

Ruby turned her back to her team, giving Weiss a small glare. "She's still our teammate, even if her past wasn't so noble."

* * *

 _I need to do this fast. I know that she's meeting up with Sun at a cafe._ Panic slowly built up as she realized she didn't know what to do. She pushed down the feeling and forced herself to think of something. She ran down the street and turned the corner.

A cafe was at the far end of the street, next to the ocean. She remembered the Blake in her past describing the place she talked with Sun. Two floors, open roof, facing the ocean. It's description matched up with the building in front of her.

She slowed down and entered it. A few people sat around. Some were chatting. More, however, were typing on their laptops and a few other were looking at their scrolls. Ruby ignored them and paced towards the stairs, walking up to the second floor. She found a seat overlooking the street below and sat down. _What if Sun doesn't bring Blake here? Or if he doesn't even meet Blake?_ Panic and doubt returned. _Things have been the same up to now. There's no reason it should change,_ she tried consoling herself.

She breathed out a sigh of relief as she spotted a blond and a girl with jet black hair enter the cafe. She stood up and walked into the women's bathroom, staying out of sight from where Blake would sit.

Blake and Sun sat down in a rather recluse spot in the cafe. An area where if one would look, they would easily skip past without realizing it. A smart choice for those who want to be left alone and out-of-sight.

Sun engaged in an one way conversation for a while, with Blake looking downwards and not in the mood to talk. Eventually, Blake finally looked her way though and Ruby smiled. She faked zipping her mouth and pointed towards the women's bathroom before walking in herself.

Blake entered the bathroom a while later. Her eyes thinned and she entered a fighting stance, aloof. "How did you track me down?" she asked. Ruby was leaning against the wall, twirling her gun-scythe.

"I followed Sun," Ruby idly lied. Blake gritted her teeth. The monkey faunus was so careless.

"So, you're not concerned that I used to be part of the White Fang?"

"You're not anymore. Is there anything more to ask of?" Ruby sported an unconcerned look, acting as if she had known all along.

"Then what are you here for?"

"Oh, not much. Just gonna ask you to not do anything stupid," Ruby said. "Seriously. Don't do anything stupid like chasing after the White Fang. They might seem incompetent, but the moment you show up on their radar," she said, "they will kill you."

"I'm from the White Fang. I know how strong they are." Ruby gave Blake a deadpan look, nearly rolling her eyes at her Faunus teammate.

 _Of course you do. And how long ago was it that you left the White Fang? They could have done almost anything to increase their forces and security. Or maybe they weren't telling you everything._

"Have you ever assassinated somebody?" At this, Blake's face scrunched up in distaste.

"We don't do assassinations."

 _Really? Explain why the Schnee only have one bloodline, or why Weiss doesn't have grandparents?_

"They do. It's just that they cover them up that well. Why do you think Weiss never mentions her grandparents?" She asked. Blake's breath shortened for a moment, but otherwise she acted calm.

Ruby walked to the door to leave. "Oh, and one more thing? You've been on their radar for a while. The only reason you're still alive is because you have someone inside there protecting you. Stay safe." She walked out, leaving Blake behind in the bathroom.

 _I really hope this message got through her thick skull... Who am I kidding, this is Blake we're talking about. Of course it didn't. Looks like I'll also have to plant a few cameras near the docks in case she decides to ignore my warning._

She left the cafe and walked down towards the dock she remembered Blake going to. A few cargo containers littered the concrete ground, but it was empty otherwise. A massive crane overlooked the entire complex and a dark warehouse sat in the corner. Inside her backpack were a few anti-burglary cameras she bought earlier. She could see through them on her scroll.

She planted the cameras at a few points overlooking the docks, mostly between empty container stacks and in dark corners. They pointed towards the open area in the center, sure to detect any movement.

Her work done, she left the docks.

* * *

Ruby stepped back into her dormitory. Yang was sitting on her bed and Weiss was seated at the desk.

"Hey Ruby, did you find her?" Yang asked.

 _No point lying._ "Yeah, she was at a cafe near the docks." She threw her scythe onto her bed along with her backpack.

"Where is she now?"

"I don't know, probably in some dingy inn trying to fall asleep."

"You found her but didn't tell her to return?!" Yang incredulously exclaimed. She threw her arms in the air in frustration.

Ruby rolled her eyes and sat down. "She didn't listen, and I can't exactly follow somebody, especially if that someone's semblance is a decoy generator," she pointed out. Yang huffed in annoyance before crossing her arms.

"So what do we do now?"

"We wait for her to think things out. Weiss, you should probably apologize, too, although she might be too stubborn to accept it now," Ruby said.

"Never." A long silence followed.

Yang uncrossed her arms and coughed lightly to break the silence. "Oh, um, Pyrrha and Jaune also got into an argument while you were gone."

Ruby sat up feeling an imminent headache approaching. "What?! About what?"

"Pyrrha was yelling about how Jaune never accepts any help and how he's slowly retreating into isolation."

Ruby groaned. "Where are they?"

"What, going to try to help and fix the problem?" Weiss cut in.

"Yeah, it's between just them. You don't need to fix every problem you see. It's probably better if you let them mend themselves," Yang added.

Ruby shot an exasperated look. "But. . . Ugh, alright. Fine." Yang looked at her with concern, but stopped speaking. They sat in silence. Ruby stood up and walked to the door. "I'm going to see what happened." Yang raised an eyebrow. "It's over now, anyways."

Yang sighed. "See ya in a few minutes then."

"See you." She left the room and climbed onto the roof. The sun was nearing the horizon, casting long shadows onto the ground. The moon creeped up the cloudless sky behind them, broken shards emerging first. Pyrrha was sitting with her legs hanging over the ledge. Her maroon hair gently drifted in the wind.

"Hey Pyrrha," Ruby called out from behind her.

"Hey Ruby." Ruby walked over the edge and sat down next to Pyrrha. A not entirely uncomfortable silence settled between them.

Pyrrha was the first to speak. "Jaune's so frustrating sometimes," she sighed.

"Does it. . . Have something to do with his transcripts?" Ruby asked.

"What, no! It's just that he's so _arrogant_ sometimes," Pyrrha growled.

"That doesn't sound like Jaune."

"Well, not exactly arrogant. You know how he never lets me help him?" Ruby nodded. "It's just that things got heated. I pushed more than usual and he got angry. Really angry. He yelled something about not needing my help and how he wasn't my child and could do things himself." Pyrrha sighed. "Do you think he's right? Do I look over him too much?"

Ruby thought for a moment. "Everything is good in moderation," she said. "If you feel like you're overdoing it, then you should pull back a bit. But it's up to you, really."

A small smile formed on Pyrrha's face as she thought about Ruby's words. "Alright then. Thanks." Then, a look of concern replaced it. "What did you mean by his 'transcripts?'"

"Just a shot in the dark," Ruby quipped a little too quickly.

"If you say so." Pyrrha didn't completely sound convinced, but let it go nonetheless. "It's getting dark. I'm going back to the dorms." She pushed herself up, boots clattering on the ground.

"See ya, Pyrrha."

"See you. . ." Her words trailed off as she left the roof, leaving Ruby alone.

Ruby lept off in a trail of petals. _Time to find Penny._

* * *

 **DorkKnight: This chapter was thoroughly a chore! Not fun at all to write. Hopefully the next one will be a little more interesting.**

 **Exiled: Just so you all know, we have multiple chapters planned out, but having them planned out is different from actually having them written. Things change, and ideas clash. Since we're getting to a point in the story where things really go to shit, it becomes more difficult to navigate around. We aren't trying to copy and paste Canon and call it fanfiction. We are actually trying to be original. Have we done a good job so far?**


	10. Memory

The gravel crunched under Ruby's boots as she landed on the ground. She paced away from the building, steering towards the helipad. A holographic board was erected in front of the helipad. A timer ticking down was projected from it. It read fifteen minutes.

 _The lake's about a thousand meters across. Assuming its a circle, here to Vale is about 1.5 kilometers of running. I run at fifteen kilometers per hour. . ._ She calculated the numbers in her head. _That's six minutes. Faster than fifteen. It'll have to do._

She turned and ran down the side of the school, leaving the pavement. The wilting forest whipped past her face and dry leaves crunched under her foot. She lept down a rock face and darted forwards.

Ruby quickly left the forest and entered Vale. The first signs of the city were some hiking trails and dirt roads. They quickly transitioned into gravel which in turn led to asphalt. Ruby raised her head to see the CCT shined in the distance, towering over the buildings surrounding it.

She sprinted up to the large park surrounding the tower She observed two guards patrolling the perimeter. _Why the hell are there only two people defending the sole building that connects Vale to the rest of the world?_

 _No wonder Cinder won so easily,_ She bitterly thought as she pulled out Crescent Rose in gun form and snuck up behind one of the guards. Her gun's side smashed into his head and knocked him unconscious. She searched through his pockets and found an id card. _This should have enough clearance to get to the top of the tower._

She grabbed him by his armpits and pulled him into a bush. It was dark and he would stay concealed until morning. She would be gone by the time they found him.

The door slid open with a scan of the card. The inside of the CCT was dark with a flight of steps leading up to the elevator. She walked up to it and pressed the button. The door slid open and she walked in, punching the button to the top floor. _Okay. If I can act as Penny's teammate, they should tell me where she is. Then I can go find her and act as if I bumped into her._

 _Maybe things are going to be alright._ She pulled her scroll out and swiped a few times. "I am Ciel Soleil," she spoke into it. She pressed a few buttons and the audio clip played again. "I am Ciel Soleil." The voice was deeper. _Sounds close enough. Shouldn't be distinguishable over the radio._

The elevator door opened and Ruby stepped out. She walked over to one of the computers and plugged her scroll in. The screen blinked on, revealing an operator sitting behind a desk. "Good afternoon. Who would you like to call?"

"Redirect this to Atlas Academy," Ruby ordered in a deeper voice. The operator disappeared, only to be replaced by the Atlas insignia.

"This is Atlas, what may we do for you?"

"This is Icarus 18-078-096. I request the location of Pinocchio, over."

"Icarus, you are calling from Vale CCT. Do you confirm?"

"Affirmative."

"Icarus, file here says you're stationed in Atlas . Why are you calling from Vale CCT?"

 _Atlas? What is Ciel doing in Atlas? She should've came here with Penny as a team. Heck, she practically follows Penny everywhere! Only reason she would leave is if Penny did too. . ._

 _That's why I didn't bump into her the other day._

"Icarus?" The voice called out again.

"Icarus out." Ruby pulled her scroll out and ran back into the elevator. She jammed the button leading to the ground floor. Her mind was racing, but nothing turned up. She had no plan.

The card worked again as she left the building. She tossed it back into the bush hiding the unconscious body and left.

 _But why is Penny in Atlas? Didn't I see her fight the White Fang a month back?_

The creeping suspicion that something was wrong returned. _Of course everything's wrong! Blake's still off somewhere, Weiss is still pissed off and now Pyrrha and Jaune have somehow managed to get into an argument! Things couldn't be worse!_

She scowled as she walked away. Her hand reached up and rubbed her forehead that had started to throb again. _Well, if Penny is in Atlas, that means she won't be helping when Blake fights Roman. Which means I'll have to help Blake._

Ruby ran back to the dorm. She took a deep gasp of air and opened the door, stepping inside. Weiss and Yang were still sitting in the same spot.

Weiss turned in her chair. "What took you so long?"

"I stayed out in town today looking for some spare parts for Crescent Rose," Ruby half-lied.

Yang raised her eyebrow. "Yeah right. That's the most transparent lie ever," she said. "I thought you were mauled by Grimm or something, you can't just go out to do one thing and then return whenever you feel like it."

Ruby grimaced and looked away slightly. "Alright, fine. I went out and talked with Pyrrha about what happened with her and Jaune. Okay?"

"What part of 'it's not your business' do you not understand?" Weiss asked incredulously. Ruby shot a glare towards her but her attention went back to Yang a moment later.

"Look at our team! Blake's ran off, Weiss isn't helping at all, and now you're disappearing and going off to help somebody else! It's like you're not even trying to keep things together." Yang said. Her eyes hints of red creeped into her eyes alongside a faint trace of tears.

"Well maybe I am trying!" Ruby hated to see those eyes aimed at her, but pushed past her uneasiness. It was for their own good!

 _You don't know what's going on and what's going to happen. I do._

"If this is your idea of 'trying,' then maybe you should stop!" Yang retorted, her anger flooding into her eyes as they flickered red.

Weiss looked at Ruby. "Aren't you supposed to be a leader? So far I haven't seen you do a single thing to keep us together. Sometimes, it's almost like you don't exist. It's like you're nothing more than a shadow."

 _This is too familiar. . ._ Her scroll buzzed in her pocket. Ruby's hand went straight to her skirt pocket and grasped at her scroll to take it out, when a loud thump sounded outside their room door. Three sets of eyes stared at the door as silence permeated throughout the room. Yang stood up and paced to the door before kicking it open. Ruby ran up and looked to the left.

She saw a flash of white and gold peek out from the edge of the hallway and set out for it. She glanced to her teammates.

"I'm going this way," she said to them. She left the doorway and ran after the figure, blending into a red blur as she picked up speed. Weiss went the other way as Yang knocked on team JNPR's dorm.

Ruby stopped her pursuit when she reached a set the end of the hallway. One path led to Goodwitch's office while the other led to the student locker area.

 _I'd like to see somebody hide in Glynda's office,_ she thought to herself.

She turned and went straight for the locker area. Somebody was panting from around the corner as if they were recovering their breath. _Bingo._

She rushed into the locker room and appeared right behind of the perpetrator.

"Jaune?!"

The blond's posture went from hunched over to rigidly straight as he slowly turned around and gave Ruby a shaky smile.

"Hey Ruby," he said, waving his hand. He held a textbook which pages were folded in many places, as if it was dropped face down while open. Jaune immediately saw the book in her line of vision and swapped with with his free hand, smiling innocently, or at least attempting to before she glared.

Still glaring at the Arc, she asked, "What were you doing outside my room?"

Gulping in fear, Jaune responded, "W-w-well, my room is right across the hall-" Ruby raised an eyebrow and gave a threatening look.

Jaune panicked. "Okay, okay! I was coming back from the training room, then I heard Yang's yelling, and, well, you know the rest."

Ruby kept up her look before sighing and letting it up. Jaune relaxed a bit and was about to say something when Ruby's scroll buzzed again. She took it out of her pocket and turned it on.

A blurry view of the docks greeted her. A bullhead was sitting in the center. Multiple figures were heaving crates out of the cargo bay. An orange haired figure paced around the bullhead, overlooking the grunts. He talked with somebody behind the bullhead before disappearing from Ruby's vision.

"What's this?" Jaune asked.

"Nothing." Jaune ignored her words and leaned over anyways to see.

"Why are you looking at the docks-" Jaune questioned. "Wait, this is about Blake, isn't it."

"What do you mean by 'Blake?'" Ruby tested. _How much do you know?_

"Weiss, uh, Weiss told us about what went down."

 _What? That doesn't sound like Weiss. Oh wait. This is an attack on Blake. That's more like it._ Ruby scowled. "I just guessed that Blake might show up around there."

"You don't think she might be joining th-"

"No, she's out for revenge," Ruby explained. "Don't ask how I know."

Jaune sighed. He debated to himself for a moment but decided to let it go. "Well, is there any way I can help? You can't be trying to do this investigation on your own."

"What, no! I don't want you pulling me-" Ruby blurted out before catching her words.

"Hey, I know I'm not the best at fighting, but I can still help! Just by, you know, looking around Vale and stuff."

 _Yeah, and what good would that do? Blake's going to go to the docks. Sun practically guarantees it._

"Just, no. You won't be able to find Blake anyways," Ruby said.

Jaune furrowed his brow. "I'm just trying to help you here! I mean like, you 'helped' me with Cardin, but I don't need somebody telling me what I can do and what I can't! Maybe it's about time I actually did something myself, instead of having somebody else do it for me."

Ruby was a little taken aback. She debated with herself for a moment and sighed. "I don't want to do this, but you can help." _Ugh. No harm done, I guess. I just need to keep him away when the fight starts._

Jaune ignored the first half and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "Thanks." He looked back to Ruby's scroll, now closed. "So, well, if you think Blake's going to go to the White Fang base at the docks, what are you going to do?"

 _Wait for her to screw up, go in to help, capture (or kill) Roman._ "I dunno, it seems pretty unlikely to happen."

"Really? She does seem the type to harbor grudges," Jaune asked.

"How do you know?"

"She, um, wasn't very quiet earlier. Like I said, the doors aren't very soundproof."

"What did you hear," Ruby asked. Was JNPR able to hear those arguments all along?

Jaune put his mind to remembering the argument. "Well, there was something about the Schnee family. That's all I picked up."

 _Good. They didn't hear everything. Wouldn't want them tak- What am I thinking? They're our friends!_ Ruby frowned at her troublesome thoughts and filed them away for another day.

"Well, if Blake's more than likely to start a fight with the White Fang, we should at least have a contingency."

"You can see the docks right? We'll know if she decides to attack."

"Yeah. It's at least half an hour from here to the docks, though. Ten if we're already in Vale."

"We're still going to search for her. That means we should be in Vale."

"Alright then, ten minutes. Five if we're nearby." She sighed. "It's the best we have." She glanced at the clock over the lockers. "It's been a while. You should get back to your dorm."

"How about you?"

"After you," Ruby stated. Jaune gave her a suspicious look, but left anyways. The room was silent after he walked away. Ruby started walking back, intending to do the same.

"Tsk tsk, don't go quite yet." Yang turned the corner. "What's this dock you were talking about? Why don't I know about it?" she threatened. She stepped forwards. "Blake is _my_ partner. I thought I'd be higher up on your priorities," she growled. Her eyes were red.

Ruby stood her ground. "I wasn't going to let Jaune help either," she said.

"So that means you weren't going to tell anybody? Do you have no regard for your own safety?!" she almost yelled. "Imagine if I woke up one day to find that both my partner _and_ my sister are dead! You can't take on the White Fang on your own. The best you can do is let someone come with you."

"They're just suspicions!"

"Yeah, you didn't put cameras all over Vale though, why this particular place? You almost seem certain of it."

"But- you'll, alright, fine, you can come." Ruby dreaded the words as they left her mouth. A part of her feared what might happen again. She tried her best to stifle the feeling.

"But I'll what?" Yang muttered.

"Nothing."

Yang looked Ruby in the eye before sighing and backing off. Her eyes faded back into lilac. "Look, don't let my worst nightmares come true, okay?"

"I won't," Ruby reassured. Yang gave her a concerned look, but didn't say anything. She turned and left the room.

Ruby followed after her sister. She entered her dorm. It was dark and Weiss and Yang were in their beds. Weiss was already in her dreams. Yang had her back to the room. She shifted her bedsheets in discomfort.

Ruby climbed onto her bed and buried herself into her blankets, trying to sleep. It didn't come to her though, and she stayed there wide awake on the bed. Her mind invariably drifted to Blake and her predicament. _I don't have a plan,_ she thought to herself. It scared her.

The foreboding sense of dread pressed into her, and it was only late in the night when she finally dozed off into an uneasy slumber.

* * *

Ruby was in a claustrophobic box. "What's your greatest regret?" Two chairs were bolted into the wall. She was sitting in one. Jaune was on the other.

"Where am I?"

"You're in a dream. Somewhere far from the real world, anyways." He leaned back and gave a foreboding smile.

"Who are you? You're not Jaune."

"You already know me." Ruby blinked, and she saw herself sitting in the chair. She blinked again. Jaune was back. "But let's talk about the issue at hand. What is your greatest regret?"

"You're me. Don't you already know?"

He chuckled. "I do. That's not what I'm here for."

"You're always here."

"No, I'm not. I'm only here when you're scared."

"Who are you then? You're not me either. I'm always here."

"I'm an old friend," he said reassuringly. He leaned in. "What is your greatest regret? Or may I reword this for you: what is your greatest fear?"

"And what happens if I don't tell you?"

"Then I guess we'll never know," Jaune said, knowing how Ruby would respond.

Ruby sighed. "My friends dying. That's what I'm scared of."

He smiled bitterly. "Close, but not quite there."

Ruby sighed. "Yang dying."

Jaune thought for a moment. "Good enough," he shrugged. The walls on the left and right pulled back. One side dropped off into an abyss. The other pulled out a pathway. It extended outwards into infinity. "Why don't we take a trip down memory lane?" He asked as he stood up. Ruby did the same.

They walked down the elevated passageway. A wall with a door faded in from the abyss ahead of them. Ruby stepped forwards and pushed it open. A torrent of wind blew through the door, throwing her hair in the wind. She stepped through and found herself in a dim room. Yang was tied to a chair bolted in the center of the room. A harsh light casted long shadows on the walls.

Behind Her was Neo, holding an ornate pistol. She sported a sweet smile and put the gun to the back of Yang's head. Ruby tried running forwards to stop what was next, but her feet were planted to the ground.

A loud bang rang through the room as Neo fired the gun. She silently laughed and teleported away. Ruby's feet moved as she tripped forwards, running towards her sister.

She pushed Yang's hair away from her face, hand running over her smooth forehead. She looked like she was sleeping.

Ruby broke down and cried. She dropped down to her knees, and hugged her sister one last time.

* * *

 **DorkKnight: Hey. I don't actually have much to say right now. Howbout you, Exiled?**

 **Exiled: Nothing that comes to mind except that we actually got this chapter done ahead of time. Of course, now that we're finally getting into the climax of this arc, things can start moving along faster I suppose. All I guess I have to say is tell us how we're doing? Good, bad, meh? Let us know what you think?**


	11. Payoff

Ruby woke up with a gasp. She pushed herself up. A single tear rolled down her cheek. Her arm wiped it away, and she let out the breath clenched in her lungs. Her eyes floated towards her sister, lying in the bed across from her.

She tried to shake her dream from her thoughts, but it persisted.

Her scroll started ringing. She picked it up and pressed a button on the side. Cold, blue light lit up her face and she shielded her eyes from the brightness. She swiped a few times and tapped on the security app.

Golden eyes met her. Then, the camera cut into static. Ruby's heart stopped for a moment. _It's Blake!_ She threw off her covers and jumped down. She looked towards Yang and stopped. Guilt pooled in her and she turned away to open the door.

"Ruby? Why are you up?" Yang muttered.

"It's Blake. She's at the docks," Ruby replied. Yang sat up, throwing her blankets off.

She jumped out of her bed and grabbed Ember Cecilia. "What is she doing?!"

"I don't know, she's smashing the cameras!" Ruby opened the door and paced out.

"What?" Yang frantically asked. "So we can't even see what she's doing?" She followed Ruby out into the hall.

Ruby didn't reply. She ran down the hallway towards the stairwell.

Yang stepped out and stopped at team JNPR's door. "What about Jaune?"

"He's just a liability. We don't have time." Ruby continued down the stairs.

Yang frowned but followed, not questioning Ruby's decision. She pushed open a window and jumped out, meeting up with Ruby outside of the building. They nodded and the two of them sprinted down the school.

They ran up to the helipad. An airship was docked at the pad. The insides were dark and the thrusters were powered down.

 _This is bad._ Ruby stopped but Yang ran up to the cockpit. She banged on it and a shrill alarm pierced the air. The cockpit lighted up as a man inside scrambled inside. He knocked his head on the roof and glared at Yang.

The alarm stopped and a loud clicking noise sounded. A scrambled voice came through it. "What the fuck are you doing?!" he yelled through the speaker.

"Open the door!" Yang screamed. She waved her arm towards the door into the airship.

"What, no! You just punched my ship!" The man argued. He pulled out his scroll and typed something in. He raised his eyebrow at the screen. He opened his mouth when Ruby advanced and pushed her aside. She waved her wallet at the pilot, showing the lien inside.

The pilot stopped when he saw the money. "Hmm. . . Well, we might be able to negotiate something," he said, now with a touch of glee. The door flipped open and the airship lit up.

Ruby gave him a thankful look and stepped towards the entrance. Yang looked at the pilot with disgust. They stepped onto the airship, interior dark. The clear glass wall was without any holograms and the security window behind the cockpit was transparent.

Ruby ran up to the security window. The pilot turned on the two-way speaker. "Vale Coast Terminal B," she told him.

"Wait, I can't go there! I'm not authorized to leave Beacon airspace," he complained.

"Do you want the lien or not?" Ruby threatened.

"Alright, fine," he grumbled.

The ground started rumbling as the thrusters on the sides of the airship flared from red to blue. "What's happening?!" Yang yelled, stumbling around.

"You seem to be in a rush," the pilot yelled back.

"We'll blow up! Can't you use something safer?" Ruby asked.

"We'll need half an hour to heat up otherwise. Plus, we'll be alright. I've done this before!" The man reassured.

"You're a ferry pilot!" Yang cut in.

He just shrugged and pushed forwards a control stick. The airship jerked forwards, flying off the edge of the cliff. It dipped down, near the surface of the water.

"Now what?!" Yang yelled.

"Do you want to be blasted out of the sky by that Atlas fleet?"

"Fine," Yang muttered. She stumbled over to the window and stared out towards Vale. Her fists clenched and a look of worry broke through her demeanor.

Ruby was seated on the bench. _Calm down, calm down, calm down. Things are going to be fine, just like last time._ A little voice in the back of her head said that last time had Penny. She tried to quench it, but it flared up and swallowed her thoughts. She buried her face in her hands as she waited for what seemed like an eternity.

The airship pulled up as Vale sped under it. It slowed to a stop and descended down into the terminal. Ruby jerked her head up and walked over to the pilot. She pulled out a few hundred lien and pushed it through a slit on the barrier. She then turned around and paced to the exit.

The door slid open as the airship hovered over the docking pad. Ruby and Yang jumped out, landing and entering into a sprint. "Is Blake going to be okay?" Yang asked.

"Yes, she will!" Ruby yelled. They skidded to a stop by the docks. Yang advanced to leap off into the clearing in the center. Ruby put a hand on her sister's shoulder, motioning her to not rush things.

They crept up to the edge. _Blake and Sun will just be fighting Torchwick, and I'll just go in to help them,_ Ruby thought. There would be no reason for anything different to occur, she reassured herself.

She peeked over the edge and into the clearing. The first thing Ruby saw was Sun lying unconscious, bound up in plastic tape. Two White Fang grunts were standing guard over him. The next thing she saw was Torchwick grabbing Blake by her hair, cane pressed into her neck.

"Well, well, _Kitty Cat_ , how do you feel now?" Roman audibly taunted Blake. Her mouth was taped up and she let out a muffled scream. Roman ignored her and continued like nothing had happened. "You really were a piece of work!" He let go of Blake and kicked her forwards. She stumbled and fell to the ground. She saw Ruby and started frantically shaking her head.

"But all things must come to an end." Roman pointed his cane towards Blake. "Goodbye."

Ruby's eyes widened. She lept off her perch, opening up Crescent Rose with a slash aimed for Torchwick's head. She soared through the air. Her scythe sailed in a long arc when suddenly a pink blur appeared. The sound of metal striking metal rang.

Neo flipped through the air and landed deftly on the ground. She sported her sweet smile and opened her parasol behind her. Ruby lost her balance and stumbled when she met the ground. She propped herself up with her scythe. Yang stopped next to her as Blake climbed onto her feet and ripped the tape off her mouth. She spit out some bloodied saliva and skirted sideways towards her weapon. They stood in a wide arc opposite to Roman and Neo.

 _Neo?! What are you doing here?!_ Ruby looked towards Sun, lying on the ground, unmoving. A large bruise showed where he was knocked out. Ruby felt a sick feeling within her. She would have liked to run right there.

 _We can't run when Neo has that semblance,_ she told herself.

Roman waved his cane around. "Well, well. Look who's he-"

Ruby shot forwards in a trail of petals, slash aimed at Torchwick's head. He stepped back in surprise and raised his cane to deflect her scythe.

Crescent Rose lodged itself into the ground. Ruby fired it, throwing it back into the air. The round connected near Roman's foot. He blocked it with his cane and took another a step back. "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt somebody speaking?" he asked.

"We can end this now if you back off," Ruby threatened.

Roman smiled and readied his cane. "I'm afraid that's not an option." He looked towards Neo. "I'll take Little Red. You can deal with Goldilocks over there." A group of White Fang soldiers emerged from behind the containers, surrounding Ruby and her allies.

"Blake, you take care of the grunts," Ruby muttered. Blake eyed her warily, but backed off and faced the advancing arc of soldiers. She disappeared as a bullet shot through her shadow. Clashing sounds started and a grunt screamed in pain from behind.

Neo suddenly froze. "Yang, watch out!" Ruby yelled. Neo appeared behind Yang and went in for a stab. Yang turned around and grabbed her umbrella with both hands and pulled it forwards. It expanded in her hands. Yang backed off as it slipped from her grasp. Neo pulled the umbrella back and put it on her shoulder and moved back into safety.

Torchwick started advancing. He pointed his cane towards Ruby and pulled the trigger, firing out a blast. Ruby blurred into a red streak and flew straight under the round. She reappeared in front of him and attempted to stab him in the stomach with the butt of Crescent Rose. He weakly blocked it but still spit out a bit of air from the force behind the blow.

She fired her scythe and pulled her scythe upwards, bladed end whipping up from behind her. Roman stepped aside. He threw his cane between him and Crescent Rose. It was wretched out of his hands and flew away in an arc, landing near where Neo and Yang were brawling. The edge of his lip twitched and he scrambled towards Neo and his weapon.

Neo was currently busy dodging the blows of an irritated Yang. With each blow missing its target, she was slowly losing her patience as red started to creep into her eyes.

"Stand still and take your hits like a man!" snarled Yang. Neo smirked and dodged a punch aimed for her head. She backflipped away from Yang right as Roman's cane slammed into the back of Yang's head, knocking her off her feet.

Yang flew into a metal crate, smashing back first and letting loose a wet cough as she sank to the floor. Within what seemed like a second, Ruby was by her side helping her sister stand up as Torchwick and Neo regrouped.

"I have to say blondie," Torchwick called out, resting his arms on his cane as Neo twirled her opened parasol before shutting it with a click, "you sure can take a beating. Too bad we can't play for much longer. Places to go, people to see, more things to steal. All that jazz."

He raised his cane again and fired a round towards Yang. It flew over her head and collided with a shipping container a distance back.

Torchwick yelled out, "Hey you! Get out from behind there!" He motioned towards some of his grunts to go investigate the situation. Four broke off and walked towards the rubble.

A figure charged out of the wreckage and smoke, brandishing a sword from its sheath. Leaping out from a high vantage point, said figure misjudged the height a piece of scrap and was sent barreling forward straight into the gut of an unsuspecting White Fang grunt.

Jaune stood up. Shaking his head slightly at the collision, he picked up his weapon and cast a brittle look of confidence. His knees shook slightly and his smile twitched, threatening to collapse into a scream of panic.

Roman looked at the scene in disbelief and shook his head while Neo looked on with an amused smile. He turned back towards Ruby and Yang and asked, "Is he with you?"

 _Shit, this is bad. Really bad._ Ruby started stepping to the side, trying to skirt in between Roman and Jaune. Neo noticed and matched her movements perfectly, nearing Ruby.

Ruby looked towards Blake. Blake battered the grunts one by one but was visibly slowing down. The soldiers, however, were doing just as well as when they started. She blocked a strike and then another. She backed off towards Sun and disappeared after a bullet flew through her shadow. Sparks flew again as another soldier tried slashing at her again.

Mentally cursing, Ruby called out, "Jaune! Help Blake!"

Yang was looking a lot better. The red was slowly bleeding from her eyes however and she drew light breaths.

Ruby motioned her head towards Torchwick and Neo. Her sister nodded and Ruby ran towards Neo while Yang advanced towards Torchwick.

* * *

'Yeah Jaune, go help the freaking ninja! I'm sure she'll need more help than, I don't know… the guy who doesn't have any semblance of training whatsoever!'

Multiple grunts advanced towards him, brandishing steel machetes. He supposed that this wouldn't be a problem if he was just sneakier. It was too late to regret it though. He counted four grunts.

He looked back towards the grunts advancing towards him, only a few feet away now. He raised his shield up in defense and peeked over the edge.

They entered a blind charge. He instinctively drew back but forced his arms to hold his sword in front of him. It connected with a grunt at the neck, dropping him to the ground. The grunt clutched his neck in pain.

"Jeez, these people are even worse than me..." Jaune muttered. A soldier pulled her machete far besides her and sent it towards Jaune's head. He ducked as the machete grazed his hair and he slammed into the grunt with his shield. She stumbled backward and fell down.

He felt something, something that wasn't there when he was in Beacon. He was fighting against real enemies. There weren't any rules. There weren't any restrictions. They were giving their all and he was matching them and beating them.

A deep sense of thrill ran through his being.

Something hit him in the back and he turned around to see what it was. He felt the pain of his nose and cheek get smashed in by a foot to the face. Some spittle flew out of his mouth. Sent backward a bit from the blow, Jaune was given a small amount of reprieve as he climbed back into his feet. He felt a stinging pain from the wall of his mouth.

The sounds of explosions and bullets rang through the air around him as he saw Blake disappear in a hail of gunfire and reappear to knock back a grunt standing over a blond dude. A little further on, Yang and Ruby clash against a weird orange-haired guy and a short girl. His attention was pulled back to the two Faunus in front of him as a vertical slash almost cleaved him.

He backed off and narrowed his eyes. He decided to borrow a move from his partner and threw his shield, as best he could, like a discus at the grunt running support. It flew through the air, but due to its shape, it landed on the ground before the grunt. It wobbled a little and fell to the ground. The grunt stepped on the spinning shield and tripped, face planting into the ground. He turned around and punched the grunt charging in the face. He then raised his foot and kicked the soldier in the stomach.

"That's payback for earlier!" He shouted as the grunt went flying. He felt his heart beating, blood coursing through his body. A small grin appeared on his face.

The grunt behind him pushed herself up. Jaune decided to emulate another of his teammates' moves. Running up to the recovering grunt, he gripped his family heirloom with both hands and swung the blade like a baseball bat towards the Faunus.

The flat of Crocea Mors' blade connected with the side of the head of the grunt. Jaune felt the vibrations of the impact travel up his arm as the grunt crumpled in a heap. He did a fist pump and turned to see the grunt from earlier pick up a rifle from the ground.

Jaune looked around for his shield and gulped. His mind raced. Maybe he could do this and then follow it up with that? No. He ran through idea after idea, each growing more outlandish.

The grunt held his rifle up to his eye and aiming towards Jaune. Still searching for a solution, he looked back towards the grunt only to realize he had no more time. He tried throwing his sword in a last ditch effort and watched as the Faunus back off as it clattered to the ground and stopped ten feet away. Jaune gritted his teeth and charged forwards, trying to take advantage of his distraction.

The Faunus recovered and fired a shot towards Jaune. He barely noticed the bullet bite into his shoulder. He dived for the shield and sword, trying a shoddy parody of one of Ren's moves. He grabbed his shield and pulled it above him. His free hand grabbed onto the blade of Crocea Mors and pulled it behind its shield. The grunt opened fire on his shield, ignoring his exposed feet underneath or his shoulder peeking out of the edge.

The bullets stopped hammering his shield and Jaune peeked over it. The grunt was reaching into his pocket for another clip. Seeing his chance, he sprinted towards the grunt just as he popped the ammunition in. Smacking the gun out of the Faunus' hand with his blade, Jaune used the momentum of his swing and turned to bash the head of his opponent with his shield. A solid clang sounded and the final grunt slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Jaune let out a breath clenched in his lungs and felt himself smile with pride at defeating four members of the White Fang. He won! He actually went into a real fight and won! Maybe he was only bad because he was being compared to Beacon students. Maybe he could actually make a life being a Hunter!

The smile dropped when a cry of pain came from Blake. She was clutching her shoulder in front of Sun. The group of soldiers were closing in on her, guns readied. They slowly took aim at her.

"Hey, you scumbags! Pick on somebody your own size!" Jaune yelled from afar. The soldiers looked towards him. Their leader stepped forwards and motioned for half of them to stay behind.

They opened fire on him. A bullet nicked his cheek. 'Oh shit!' Jaune thought as he frantically ran behind a cargo container. Little dents dotted the metal sheet behind him as bullets hit but didn't penetrate the wall. He sucked in his breath and peeked around the corner.

The remaining soldiers took aim onto Blake. Loud bangs rang across the dock as they fired their guns. Blake and Sun slowly dissipated. The soldiers looked up, only to see a figure holding another in her arms disappear into the street above. They turned and ran up the stairway leading up to the streets, giving chase to Blake.

Ruby slammed Torchwick in the guts again. _Why. . . Are. . . You. . . Fucking invincible?!_ She swore in her head. Yang was throwing limp punches at Neo nearby, clearly spent. Her target just idly sidestepped around her attacks, mocking her.

"Neo, just get her done with!" Roman grunted as he barely avoided a head cleaving slash from Ruby. Neo rolled her eyes and flicked her parasol, letting out the hidden blade. She stepped around Yang's punch once more.

Ruby turned as she heard Roman's order. She shot towards Neo. Torchwick whipped around the hook of his cane out and snagged the back of her hood, reigning her back. She fumbled at the pins holding her cloak but was unable to unclasp them.

Neo kicked Yang in the stomach. Her aura snapped, long spent in her rage. Neo followed with a long diagonal slash. Yang fell back, wound opened on her stomach. Ruby heard the fabric on her hood tear and stumbled forwards.

 _No, no, no, no, NO!_ She scrambled and sent a slash towards Neo. The tip of Crescent Rose caught on Neo's shoulder, pushing her back. A trickle of blood stained the torn fabric in the area and Neo clasped the wound with her unharmed hand. She vanished and reappeared next to Roman. Ruby backed off towards her sister and stood in front of her, guarding her from Neo and Roman.

 _Yang. . ._ Ruby took a glance towards Yang's downed figure, forcing herself to gauge the extents of her sister's wounds.

 _Slash across the stomach. Deep but not fatal. You're strong. I trust you to not die from this._ Ruby's panic died down a little as she realized that Yang would live.

She looked back towards Neo. _I'll kill you._

Neo was scowling and clutching her shoulder. She motioned towards Yang and made a throat slitting action. Roman laughed. "We're not here for her, Neo. There's no point making any more enemies." Neo frowned and crossed her arms but made no more movement.

Ruby brandished Crescent Rose. Neo flickered and disappeared. Ruby jabbed at her with the back of her scythe. Neo blocked it with her parasol and took a step back as Roman advanced. Ruby swung her scythe in an arc over her head, cleaving at where Torchwick stood. He frantically lept back. Crescent Rose nicked his leg and his aura gathered around the point. It threatened to break but held.

She buried her scythe into the ground and fired it. Roman barely blocked the sniper round and was pushed back. Her scythe lept out of the ground and Ruby fired it again, stabbing it into Neo who was stabbing from behind. She stepped to the side and dodged it. Ruby grasped Crescent Rose and swept it around towards Neo, hurtling towards her head. Neo blocked it with her parasol but was knocked back. She jammed her weapon into the ground and slid to a stop.

She flashed again and appeared right in front of Ruby, slashing sideways at Ruby's neck. Ruby blocked it with the shaft of Crescent Rose. Neo expanded her umbrella right in her face. It flooded her vision and pushed her back.

Ruby turned her head and saw Jaune sprinting towards her, running through gunfire. He yelled out towards her. "Ruby, watch out!"

Neo disappeared. Something buried into her back.

An explosion detonated point blank behind her. Ruby's face crashed itself into the ground and she flipped around as she skidded to a stop. Stars flew around her vision and she felt bile rising in her throat. She retched a bit but held it back. A searing pain flared in her back. She tried moving but the pain overpowered her and she collapsed again. She ground her teeth as she tried moving again. This time, the agony in her back shot up her spine and she let out a cry before collapsing.

Neo planted a foot on Ruby's chest. She pointed her blade at Ruby's forehead.

 _So this is where it ends, huh?_ Ruby started feeling her aura pool into her eyes.

Neo raised her blade and prepared to plunge it down.

Jaune crashed into her. Neo backed off of Ruby and deflected a swing from him. She twisted Crocea Mors out of his hands and kicked his knee. It bent inwards and he fell to the ground, clutching his knee in pain. Neo pulled her foot back and jammed it into his side. He was sent sprawled out onto the ground.

Neo walked over and raised a foot over Jaune's neck.

She stomped down. Jaune's aura threatened to buckle but didn't break.

 _Jaune, this isn't your fight. . . You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't have to die._ Ruby clenched her teeth and started pulling herself towards Neo. She raised her arm out and clenched. She pulled herself forwards. Her back flared but she bit down the pain and endured it.

Neo raised her foot and stomped down again. Jaune's aura snapped and Neo's foot bruised his neck. She pushed him onto his side with her foot and raised her blade over Jaune's neck. She turned her head and thought for a moment. She moved it over to his side, right above the side of his chest.

Ruby stumbled onto her feet. She placed one foot forwards, then the other. Her mind was cloudy and she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness. She wrung out the last drops of her willpower and threw herself towards Neo.

Neo plunged the blade down. It pierced through Jaune's side. He screamed in pain. Neo forced the blade down farther and twisted it. She pulled it out and flicked the blood off of it.

Jaune was bleeding profusely. He coughed up a wab of blood and clenched his side where the wound was. Ruby stumbled forwards and threw a hand onto Neo's shoulder, trying to push her down. Ruby stumbled forwards and then collapsed, legs failing her. The concrete ground slammed into her head and the last thing she saw was a blinding light burn through her eyelids.

 _Where did things go so wrong?_

"Stand down or we will fire," a voice boomed overhead.

* * *

Ruby was hiking up a mountain trail. Blake was shortly behind her and the two stopped at an outcrop on the side of the mountain. Red trees surrounded them and a small creek ran down the side of the mountain around them.

"How far do you think we're from the base?" Blake asked.

"I dunno, it's pretty amazing out here though," Ruby idly chirped. She sat down and pulled out a sandwich from inside a pocket. Blake sat down next to her and Ruby took a massive bite out of her sandwich. "Mfhm, look, you can see the camp from here!" she spoke from between her bites.

Blake laughed. "Ruby, don't take bites like that!" She put up a patronizing tone. "You might choke," she said.

"Oh come on, food would _never_ do that to me!" Blake stayed silent. Ruby looked towards her. She was staring out towards the mountains in the distance.

"Do you ever regret what you've done, Ruby?"

"No, not really. No point wasting my time over the past, you know."

Blake nodded and sat in thought for a moment. "Do you ever fear what's to come? What hasn't happened yet?"

Ruby mused about it. She swallowed her mouthful of food and lied down. "I always figured that it wasn't the best idea to fight fate."

Her eyes lit up and she pointed a finger out towards a cloud. "Hey, look, that looks like a Beowulf!"

Blake looked away and concealed her laugh. "Yeah, it does."

* * *

 **DorkKnight: Sorry about the missing upload, school kinda just started and we wanted to spend a bit more time on the chapter. Anyways, it seems like the story should start picking up and I feel like we can be more confident in doing stuff other than rewriting canon.**

 **Exiled: There isn't much for me to say (total lie), except that writing this chapter has been something I've been looking forward to for a long time. It's something that I've been planning with DorkKnight ever since I first started helping out, like Chapter 3 early. I've been waiting for this moment, and I'm glad that we found something to agree on regarding this chapter. Besides all that, I have to wonder, since we both worked on this chapter, I wonder if you guys can tell the difference between our writing styles. Try and guess who wrote what in the review section and let us know what you guys think.**

 **And as Jackie Chan's uncle once said, one more thing. I understand that some of you really dislike Jaune Arc as a character and whatnot. And I mean, REALLY dislike him. But one of the major reasons why we are putting so much focus into him is because he fits into so many themes that we sat down and figured out for this story. I don't think we can put Weiss in his place and have her do what he does.**

 **Jaune is my favorite character because (for one of many reasons) he is malleable. You can do whatever you want to do with him, but, in my opinion, so long as he fits in with what RoosterTeeth describes him as, you can alter him in any way.**

 **DorkKnight: I think we'll all see Jaune's purpose next chapter. It wasn't very clear when we started but I think this chapter set up where to go next quite well.**

 **Exiled: Most likely we are going to take a small break for a while so if you don't see any updates next Sunday or Saturday that's probably why. School is starting again but we'll still try our best to keeps our update schedule a thing!**

 **DorkKnight: Totally.**


	12. Aftermath

**Chapter 12: The Aftermath**

The first thing she felt was a dreariness that weighed her down. She sensed somebody sitting next to her and kept her eyes closed.

"You can drop the fake sleep act. I can see your cerebrum activity on this," Ozpin said in a grave tone.

Ruby opened her eyes and pushed herself up. It felt as if weights were clamped to her limbs. Her back was sore and hurt when she moved it. She looked around and found she was in a clean hospital room. Light warmly reached in from the window and a comfortable blue blanketed the sky. Soft clouds floated high in the sky and people milled about, enjoying the summer before it gave way to autumn. She looked down. Gauze was wrapped around her chest. A few thin tubes were inserted in her wrist, running into a monitor sitting next to Ozpin, showing her heart rate.

Her mind filtered through her memories. They were jumbled, as if she still wasn't completely awake. She remembered something about Neo standing over Jaune. It snapped her into full alert. "Where are Roman and Neo?"

"The two you fought are gone. It seems like the woman has a teleportation semblance," Ozpin explained.

"Why?"

Ozpin analyzed Ruby's question and decided on the more literal response. "The Atlas fleet floating over Vale caught sight of the explosions. They then ran into your friend."

 _What friend?_ Ruby held her hand up to her forehead as she searched her fuzzy memories again. "Blake?"

"Indeed," Ozpin answered. Ruby slumped back into her pillows. She had been hoping to kill Roman at the encounter. Instead, she and her friends were all injured.

 _Wait, my friends. . ._

She felt a little shame from forgetting about her friends. "How are the others?" she asked.

"Do you remember what I said to you after you wounded Mr. Winchester?" Ozpin took his hand off of the drawer and held them together. He leaned forwards slightly and his shadow loomed over Ruby.

"...Yes. Is Yang okay?" Ruby tried deflecting.

"Your sister is safe. She'll have a scar but that's the extents of her wounds."

"That's good to hear." She sighed and a sliver of relief and hope emerged. Perhaps this would be the same for everybody else.

Ozpin sat back. "Do you want to see Mr. Arc?"

Ruby looked down. She took a deep breath. "Yes, I do."

The door slid open and a nurse pushed a wheelchair. She stopped next to Ruby's bed and helped her in. Ruby winced as she moved her legs off of the bed. Her back stretched a little and sent another flare of pain.

She gingerly moved into the wheelchair, first putting a hand onto the armrest and then awkwardly setting her legs in. The nurse put her hands on the top of the wheelchair once Ruby found a comfortable position and pushed the wheelchair forwards. The door silently slid open as Ruby stopped in front of it. They entered the hallway and turned left. Her room was on the far end of the room, facing the street in front of the hospital.

Jaune's room was a few rooms down from Ruby's. The door slid open and Ruby rolled in.

He was lying down on the bed. His left leg was bound in bandages and his neck had a cast wrapped around it.

A mask fed air into his mouth and his sides were packed together with bandages. A complex series of tubes led into and out of his shirt. They seemed to slip in through his ribs. Blood flowed through them, leading into a giant machine.

The pillow moved as his neck strained and he let out a hoarse croak. The nurse pushed Ruby up to his bedside and backed off, observing the interaction from afar.

"Hey, Jaune." Ruby observed the medical gear on him.

Jaune moved his hands towards his mask and tucked his fingers in the seal between his face. He started coughing. Blood spattered the the mask and he pulled his hand away. A whirring sound started and the blood was sucked away, down the pipe and into a machine. He pulled his fingers out and held them over his chest, as if he was trying to feel for his heart.

A panel opened up on the wall and slid out. A keyboard was on the screen. It moved itself to the side of his bed, in a comfortable position to be typed on by him. He shifted his hand onto the keyboard.

His fingers clumsily bumped the letters on the keyboard and spelled out a sentence.

"I don't want to talk to you," the screen read.

Ruby stared at the screen for a while and then looked away. The nurse walked over and placed her hands on Ruby's wheelchair, turning its back to Jaune. The doors slid shut with a soft whirr.

"Can I see my sister next?" she muttered after an uncomfortable pause.

The nurse looked down the hallway. She shook her head. "You'll have to ask the Headmaster."

Ruby lightly nodded and let the nurse push her back to her room. Ozpin was waiting inside, sitting in the same spot. The warm sunlight slid over her. He sat still as she rolled up, both staying in an uneasy silence.

Ozpin reinitiated the conversation. "I do suppose you know what your actions have caused now." Seeing that Ruby stayed silent, he continued. "Do you remember the ultimatum I gave you when you met me about Mr. Winchester?"

"Yes."

"We will have to see to see to that matter." He turned and looked out the window, towards the children playing in the fields and the pedestrians milling about the streets. "When we unlock our auras, we make a bargain. Protection for our present, traded with health in our future."

He turned back towards Ruby and leaned in. "Do you know why civilians don't have their auras unlocked?"

Ruby knew. She still asked, almost as if part of her wanted to believe her memory was a lie. "Why?"

"When our auras are unlocked, they permeate through our beings. They intermingle with the flesh and they press against our skin, creating a barrier from harm."

"So, what happens when that skin, that retention barrier, is broken? When it is broken so deep that it opens up to the heart, the core of the human being?"

He took a slight pause to look over Ruby's expression. Her straight face betrayed the dread and anxiety underneath.

"That aura escapes. It flows out and it becomes the energy that floats in the air. Escaped aura does not regenerate as quickly, if at all. It does not strengthen, only weakens. Normally such a wound would be fatal. It's fortunate that Atlas Academy has donated aura retention technology."

Ruby looked down. She asked another question she knew the answer to. "What are his wounds?"

Ozpin answered her question. "Punctured both lungs. Heart grazed, nearly impaled if it weren't for the rush. It was a surgical strike, one with crippling intent. Mr. Arc's case is special. If the assailant had not taken the time to break his aura, he would have bled out before the Atlas fleet arrived."

Seeing that Ruby had nothing left to say, he stood up and walked over to the door. The door slid open. "Do remember the ultimatum," he reminded before walking out, leaving Ruby alone with her thoughts.

She slumped back into her seat, looking out towards the children in the fields, running in joy and chasing after whatever caught their fancy. Her hatred had fizzled out after its short burst but the emptiness remained.

A deep, sickening guilt replaced it, one that made her heart ache in pain. A familiar feeling. She wondered what Jaune saw. Did he see the children running freely? Was he jealous?

 _Sigh. It's all my fault anyways._

She heaved herself back onto the hospital bed, content to never move from where she laid until the end of eternity.

* * *

A few days have passed. Ruby's back gradually healed, going from painful to just sore. She started walking again and could take a few steps before her back killed her and she had to lie down.

She was sitting in her bed, holding her cape in her hands. The fabric at the hood was torn open, a vertical streak towards the top. She watched as the two halves fell to the sides, revealing her hand clutching the neck.

 _When. . . When did this happen?_

She remembered herself falling forwards even though Roman had snagged her hood with his cane. That must have caused the tear. The hood was the only thing Summer left her. Her only consolation was that she tore it trying to save her friend. It was successful, even if Jaune did get injured in the process.

She held the cloak up to her chest and hugged it. It had been many years since her mother's death and she had already forgotten most of her memories. Clutching the cloak was the closest she could get to a hug with Summer. It made her feel slightly better but also brought a deep yearning for more. She sighed and let go of the cloak.

A ring came from the door. It slid open and Yang walked in. She ambled over to the side of the bed and sat next to Ruby, leaning back in the chair comfortably.

"Hey, Rubes." Yang smiled warmly.

"Hey."

"Don't be so depressed, the view is a lot better here! Better than the alleyway I have to contend with." She pulled up the bottom of her shirt to show a thin layer of bandages around her waist. "Doctor says I should be out of the hospital by the end of the week! How about you?"

Ruby shrugged. "Might be a bit more time. I'll have to miss some Beacon classes." She looked down. "If only I hadn't screwed up my back this bad."

Yang shrugged. "At least you didn't get your spine messed up."

"Yeah. I guess." Ruby shored up her courage. "Uh, do you know what happened to Jaune?" She fidgeted a little, hoping that Yang wouldn't pick up on the sudden awkwardness of the question.

"No, Ozpin said it was better for me if I didn't know."

"He's right, you shouldn't." Ruby's mind wandered back to the wound and its implications. She clenched her teeth down and tried to force the thoughts from her mind, focusing on her sister instead.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Nothing too bad will happen, right?"

"I guess."

Yang thought about pushing but decided against it. "It's not my business either," she said.

They both looking out the open window. "Well, I guess I'm grateful for you and Jaune being there to help me. Sorry about your wound, by the way."

Yang looked surprised for a second. "Wow, I never actually thought you'd say that, with how stubborn you've been lately," she admitted. She scratched her head in embarrassment when Ruby shot her a questioning look. "It's fine. I'm a lot happier about a cut than what would've happened," she shrugged, trying to play off her previous blurt.

The words made some sense in Ruby's head. She smiled a little. "Thanks."

The minutes passed as they sat in a comfortable silence. A light breeze blew in. Birds happily chirped outside, flying around trees next to the window. Ruby realized that she hadn't been this comfortable around Yang for years. It brought a warmth to her heart and began filling up the emptiness.

Yang looked at the clock and spoke. "I think that's all the time I have for visits. Ozpin has you clamped down for some reason." She stood up and walked to the doorway. "Bye, see ya later." She waved before the door closed in front of her, leaving Ruby by herself.

Ruby gently smiled. "See you."

Ruby stared at the door before looking back out the window. The streets were mostly clear and the fields were untouched, light ripples of wind running through the grass. She supposed that the children were all busy with school and the adults were preoccupied with their jobs.

A stray thought slipped into her mind. Jaune would probably be feeling a lot better now than any other time. If she was going to talk to him, it would have to be now.

A part of her dreaded the confrontation. What would he say? Would he condemn her for her actions, roping him into somebody else's problem? Her mind ran through all the possible conversations. All but the most extreme ended in herself feeling a lot worse.

A small voice in her head told her that she wouldn't know if she never tried. She grabbed onto the idea, pulling on it and kicking away her doubts. She forced herself off the bed and gently sat into the wheelchair before leaving the room.

The trip down the hallway was slow and painful. Every fiber of her being wanted to turn back and return to the safe isolation of her own hospital ward. She stopped in front of Jaune's room after an agonizing eternity.

The door opened with a soft whirr and she rolled in. The mask on his face was gone and not so many tubes led into his shirt. His breathing was irregular, chest heaving up and down at different speeds. Ruby went to his side.

"Hey, Jaune."

"I thought I told you I didn't want to talk."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about roping you into this mess." Ruby said after a pause. Jaune frowned.

"That's the same thing Blake said. I get it, you're sorry. Doesn't change what happened."

 _He's right. It doesn't change what happened._

Jaune heard the silence following his statement. He pushed. "The doctor told me that my heart and my lungs are screwed." His sentences came out in unsteady blocks. "You know what that means, right?"

"What?" Ruby asked, dreading what was coming next.

He looked to the side. "This is it for me at Beacon. I can barely walk, let alone fight Grimm. I'm moving out after I heal."

Ruby took a moment to pause at what she just heard. "What, no! You can't just do that! What about your team? You're their leader, aren't you?"

He let out a bitter laugh. "What good is a _crippled_ leader? They don't deserve someone like me. Maybe Pyrrha can move in like I originally planned."

Ruby tried saying something. She opened her mouth but couldn't speak. Jaune continued, hearing her silence. "I recall telling you I don't want to talk. Leave me alone."

She left the room, feeling drained again by his words.

 _He really is going to leave Beacon after his therapy is done, isn't he?_

She collapsed back onto her bed, tower of hope collapsing like a stack of toy bricks knocked over by a sadistic child. She buried covered her face with her hands, looking at the light filter between her fingers. She imagined sinking to the dark depths, watching as the light above her slowly faded away.

* * *

Another week passed. Blake came to visit and apologized profusely for the trouble she caused for Ruby, Jaune, and Yang. She seemed to be on the verge of tears and Ruby frantically consoled her that it was okay, even though she secretly felt it wasn't.

She stood in front of the hospital. It's pristine white figure loomed over her and the caduceus shined under the bright sun. She turned her back to it and started her journey back to Beacon. Yang had left a two days ago and Ruby had nothing to do but fidget and stare out the window while her back healed.

A part of her was glad to fall back into her routine of Beacon. Another knew that it was never going to be the same, that things had changed and the past was the past.

 _So ironic for a time traveler._

The journey on the airship was calm. The flying machine glided upwards through the air, skimming over the lake. It held stark contrast against her last journey across the lake, one filled with panic and rush.

Was it really over? She felt a weird feeling inside her, one that didn't believe that things were going back to normal and that she had control over what would happen next. It was almost too easy.

 _Oh right, Jaune._

Her mood dampened again. Casualties were normal, she told herself. She had grown to accept it in the past. What happened? Had she grown soft? A few other students sat along her. They looked through their scrolls, idly chatted, and slept. She speculated how much the docks meant to them. To them, it would just appear one day on the back of the newspaper and then be forgotten.

Just how small was this problem? Wasn't she one of the few with silver eyes? Once the entirety of Remnant was balanced on her. Now she was worrying over one person whose wounds barely skimmed the bad side of injuries.

The wounds. She thought about how she would explain it to team JNPR and her own. They didn't seem to know, seeing how Pyrrha had asked her earlier that day over her scroll. Ruby had lied and said she was in the dark, considering how she herself wasn't sure what to think of Jaune's words.

She frowned as she imagined Pyrrha's response. Shock, followed by disbelief, continued with anguish and then finished off with regret. She had seen it happen many times before.

The airship landed at the helipad in front of Beacon far too soon, long before she could finish her thoughts. She stepped off and looked out towards Beacon, remembering when she first went back in time and when she saw it. Pure relief and happiness. Now she was looking at it with a foreboding sense of dread. She tried forgetting about the injuries and just focused on the bright side, however small the sliver was.

No limbs were lost, Roman didn't necessarily win, and everybody got back alive. In a sense, they had actually come off pretty good. They were lucky, she thought. It very well could have ended in Yang bleeding out and herself impaled on a sword.

She walked to the dorms and looked towards team JNPR's room. She looked back towards her own. The dreaded moment had arrived and there was nothing to do but step forwards, one foot at a time.

A single drop of resolution condensed and she pushed Jaune from her thoughts. _Maybe it's time I put myself before others._

She firmly put a hand on the door and pushed. It swung open to reveal her brightly lit dormitory.

Yang was lying down on her bed, catching some sleep. Weiss and Blake were sitting across from each other. They still sat slightly rigid, unable to relax, but the dirty glares were gone.

"Hey," Ruby said. Weiss and Blake looked towards her. Yang woke up and swung her legs over the bed. She let out a deep yawn and stretched her legs and arms out. She rubbed her eyes with her hand.

Blake crashed into Ruby with a hug. "I'm so sorry about making this mess," she apologized. She raised her hand to her eye to wipe away a tear.

"You weren't like this when you visited me yesterday," Ruby commented, a small smile on her face.

"I couldn't exactly do that with you and your back," Blake explained. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Ruby responded. Blake let go of her hug and sat back down on her bed. Ruby walked in and closed the door behind her.

Yang spoke up. "Oh right, Weiss and Blake have decided to 'tolerate' each other."

Weiss cut in. "It's just a temporary truce," she said, giving Blake a borderline glare.

Yang laughed it off. "Yeah, yeah, you won't need to worry about any other sort of explosive argument between the two. Hopefully."

Ruby shrugged. "Well, I was partially responsible for Blake running off."

"Apologies accepted," Blake answered with a smirk. "Oh, right, do you know when Jaune's leaving the hospital?"

Ruby remembered the events that had transpired and turned solemn. "In a while, after he's done with therapy," Ruby muttered.

Weiss frowned. "That's not that bad, what's the problem?"

"He. . . He won't be coming back to Beacon," Ruby said with a sense of finality.

The room was plunged into an uncomfortable silence as they processed what Ruby had just said. Yang was the first to finish. "What? Why?"

Ruby grimaced. "It's. . ." Her voice failed her. "It's his injuries."

"How bad are they?!" Blake blurted out. "He can't just leave because of getting stabbed!"

Weiss cut in. "I'm not sure what you saw when you might have visited him, but he looked pretty bad when I did. He had an artificial heart connected to him."

"That thing's a heart?!" Yang yelled in surprise.

Ruby looked back towards Blake. "He's leaving because of me," Blake muttered. "We. . . We have to tell his team. It's the right thing to do. Maybe we can try persuading him otherwise then."

"Pyrrha won't be very happy to hear that," Weiss noted. "I'm pretty sure there's something between them."

"Better than letting her find out on her own." Blake stood up and walked past Ruby towards the door. Yang dropped off her bed. Weiss looked at them full of confidence and shook her head, sighing. They walked out into the hallway. Blake walked forwards and lightly tapped her knuckles on the door.

A shuffling sound came from behind the door and a bump. It swung open to reveal Pyrrha standing behind it.

"Hello," she instinctively greeted. She scanned the group in front of her. "Oh! Ruby, you're back! Is, ah, is your back okay?" she asked.

"It's better, I can walk now," Ruby shrugged.

Pyrrha argued to herself whether she should ask the question. "How about Jaune?" She didn't even try to hide the worry in her voice.

Yang opened her mouth to speak. Ruby nudged her. _Let Blake handle this._

"That's what we wanted to talk about with you," Blake said. She saw the look on Pyrrha's face. "No, no, he's not dead. His injuries aren't even that bad! Relatively."

"Your relative is to the White Fang," Pyrrha noted. "He's okay, right? He wasn't responding to any of my texts and they wouldn't let me visit him when I went there. . ."

Blake looked towards Ruby, silently telling her to pick up the exchange. Ruby bit her lips. "I was able to visit him two days ago. He was. . . Disheartened. His wounds look a lot better, though. The mask is gone anyways."

Pyrrha let out a bit of her breath. "Did he say anything?"

Ruby tried to think of a way to break the news softly. Pyrrha was strong, though. There was no better way than outright telling her. "He. . . He said he didn't want to return to Beacon." Ruby looked away.

Pyrrha looked at Ruby in disbelief. A troubled look emerged. "That's. . . That's not right." She took a step forwards, almost as if she was bargaining for something. "Jaune's not like that!"

Ruby grimaced but said nothing. Pyrrha understood the message and tears started to well in her eyes. She backed off and put a hand on the doorknob. "I. . . I need to think about this for a moment." She closed the door, leaving team RWBY in the hallway.

Weiss broke the silence. "Well, that went great."

Ruby sighed. "Better than if she found out on her own. Then she'd also feel as if we betrayed her trust." She didn't feel well about the encounter but it was far better than what could have happened. They entered their dorm and returned to their previous positions.

"Well, about his wounds, is he going to heal?" Yang asked.

"They won't heal completely but at least he won't be stuck in a wheelchair forever," Ruby replied. "We were lucky."

She stared out the window. Everything she had to do was done. From this point on, she'd return to her normal student life, as if nothing had ever happened. A small spark of hope glowed in her and she nurtured it, letting it grow into a flame.

She knew that things bad things were going to happen, even to good people. Even then, a part of her believed that things were going to turn out okay, because even if bad things happened and people died, she knew that she was going to win. She was going to win for her friends. To promise them a better, more hopeful future, one with no Salem or Cinder terrorising the world.

 _Cinder, I'm coming for you._

* * *

 **DorkKnight: Hey, random guy who posted a whole lot of reviews, your feedback is really appreciated. I used this fanfic to catapult myself into writing which probably is why the start's so weak. Well, at least it's good to know that there's been improvement.**

 **Exiled: Thanks for the crap ton of reviews Guest who reviewed all chapters in one sitting apparently. Appreciate your intake on the fic and we'll keep in mind what you're saying.**

 **DorkKnight: Oh, right, we're also changing this fic's rating to M, mostly because of violence and** _ **maaaybe**_ **some darker stuff regarding depression and whatnot.** **And, I'm gonna work on bringing some more** _ **positive energy**_ **into the fic. Make it better for the characters so they have farther to fall when they do :D Also just to combat my super edgy habit of making everything unnecessarily dark and angsty. Yeah, it's contradictory to the rating change but it's necessary, y'know?**

 **Exiled: But what is the world if not angsty, edgy, and dark? Anyways, leave a review telling us how we're doing. And follow and favorite this story to keep yourselves updated. *shameless advertising***


	13. Act 2

**Chapter 13: Ghosts of the Present**

The elevator was cast in a sterile light. It slowly hummed as it ascended, rising through the clouds and into the peak of Beacon tower. Ozpin had recently called her, calling her to his office. The elevator smoothed to a stop and a bell-like sound rang through the walls before the doors glided open.

The room was filled with sunlight, pouring in from the transparent walls. A field of clouds blanketed the view, dividing it between a snowy, fluffy white and the endless blue of the sky. A flock of birds glided above the clouds, skimming over the tufts of cloud. A complex web of light shafted through the complex web of copper machinery above, projecting dancing lights and shifting shadows upon the floor.

Ozpin sat in front of his deep red mahogany table, leaning forwards with an ink pen in hand. He scanned a piece of paper lying flat on the desk. Ruby stepped out of the elevator and paced forwards, ready to get things over with.

He raised a hand to halt her. "Come, have a seat," he gestured. Ruby stepped forwards, placing a hand on top of the chair and taking a quick glance over at the stack of papers on Ozpin's desk.

Medical bills. Of course, he'd be ready to guilt her at a moment's notice. She would have liked to have admitted that it had no effect on her, but it did, still picking at the guilt she felt. She pulled the chair back completely and took a seat, staring at Ozpin with a facade of unwavering confidence. Ozpin analyzed Ruby's stare and placed his pen flat onto the table, taking care as to avoid staining it.

He raised his finger to his brow and deftly took his glasses off. His other hand, at the same time, reached into his pocket and took out a clean piece of silk cloth. He lightly rubbed his glasses while altogether ignoring Ruby.

Ruby's foot tapped against the ground. "Is this about my punishment, isn't it?" she started. She knew that it was probably going to be house arrest or something along those lines. Ozpin wanted her under his watch, after all.

He looked up and placed the cleaned glasses onto his eyes. He pushed the bridge upwards, adjusting the glasses. "Yes, quite a detailed observation indeed. This is about the recent incident." He waited to see if Ruby would have anything to interject.

Seeing that Ruby was still waiting for a point to argue against, he continued. "It is quite unfortunate for me, or any of the faculty at Beacon, to have to make this decision. In the name of safety for both our students here at Beacon and you yourself, I regret to tell you that you hereby have been placed under house arrest until we see fit otherwise."

The statement wasn't all too shocking, really. Ruby looked at Ozpin's eyes, expecting a challenge. Instead, all she saw was a cool, calmness in his gaze. It sparked anger in her. How could he act so calmly in the face of this? She came here expecting a fight, one where he tried to insert his dominance. She felt a swelling sense of spite deep inside her.

"But Blake would have died otherwise," she rebuked. How could Ozpin not see? Nobody could have expected what would have happened. Not even herself.

Ozpin seemed to have a prepared and calculated answer for Ruby's question. His voice took on a more serious tone, and a vein of iron ran through it. "And what if you failed? What if you weren't so lucky? Then we'd have four dead. You very well know that the police is available. Any of our staff would have helped too," he said, knowing that Ruby had nothing against his point.

She looked away. He was right. But what was the alternative? Explain how she just so happened to know exactly where Blake would show up and what she'd do? It was already hard enough with her Yang and Jaune. It seemed like Ozpin's moral compass did not include honesty, so having to answer to Ironwood would be even worse.

Ruby admitted the half-truth. "I... I thought that it would be alright. We'd just go there, convince her to return and that would be the end of things. Next thing we knew, she was being held at gunpoint and Torchwick was loudly announcing how he was going to blast her brains out," she lied. She fidgeted slightly in her seat, hoping that Ozpin did not see through her twisted truth.

If he did, he did not show it. "I see," he muttered. "Even then, it would have been wise to have at least contacted the authorities. Until then, you are placed under house arrest. For your safety and for others'." He said it with a sense of finality, putting an end to the exchange.

Ruby blurted out without thinking. "Wait, you want to track down the White Fang, right? I know a base they have in Forever Falls. It's a few miles away from the city." She instantly regretted the decision.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to use this to get out of your punishment?" he asked. Ruby could see his interest peak, however. If she played this right, she could at least get some form of leverage.

"It was to keep everybody safe, right? If you bring hunters and those robots Atlas has been advertising lately, there'd be no chance of failure. It's not far from the city so the White Fang can't have that much strength and, if things really go sour, reinforcements won't take long to arrive."

He thought about it for a moment. "And what would this do other than alert them to our presence?"

"It's near a railroad running under Vale. They could get to the center of the city if they just hijacked a train there." Ruby knew she had him once she saw him weighing the risks. It was either accepting her demands or admitting that he didn't care about the well-being of Vale.

Ozpin knew it too. "You're right. It's a low risk for such an important target," he admitted.

"And, uh, can Blake come along? She has a personal stake in this too," Ruby quickly added. She fidgeted a little under Ozpin's analyzing gaze.

"I presume this is because of her past?" Ozpin asked. He started speaking again without waiting for Ruby to answer him. "It's not unreasonable. She can come."

 _That was. . . Too easy._ It unsettled her. _It worked though. I shouldn't read too much into it._

"Vale will organize a squad of hunters by next week. You will be the navigator and your friend can be enrolled as an intern under the basis of exceptional school performance." He looked away from Ruby and down towards the sheet of paper still sitting in front of him. He picked up the pen laid to the side, and quickly checked a box on the form.

Ruby smiled a little. "Thanks."

* * *

The next day came quickly. Ruby woke up to a pillow to the face. Her hand instinctively grabbed for Crescent Rose and met thin air. She slid over the edge of the bed and came crashing into the ground. Yang was roaring with laughter by the time she came back to her senses. Stars flew around her vision and her forehead throbbed.

"Yang," she muttered, mind racing as to why Yang would do this. Blake was leaning on the wall behind the bunk. Her hand covered her mouth but it was obvious she was trying her hardest to burst out laughing. Ruby realized what just happened and retaliated with a glare to both of them.

Yang controlled her laughter and leaned forwards, out of breath. "It's just a prank, sis," she said after recovering.

"Just a prank? I fell out of my bed!" Ruby yelled.

"You did that yourself, all I ever did was throw a pillow at you," Yang replied after regaining her breath.

"Wha-" Ruby shouted indignantly before Yang cut it off by ruffling her hair. "Yang!" she yelled, cheeks flushing red. She grabbed her sister's hand and tore it off her hair, unable to suppress the embarrassment.

Blake's demeanor snap as she clutched her stomach and let out a series of stifled laughs. She turned her back towards Ruby and grabbed the edge of a cabinet to steady herself.

Yang grabbed Ruby's wrist and turned around walking up to the door. "Today we're going on a team bonding exercise," she loudly announced.

Weiss objected before Ruby did. "Wait, I didn't agree to this. All you said was that we were going to wake Ruby up with a pillow!"

Yang sighed. Why did Weiss always have to make things so difficult? It was almost as if she was passively trying to keep things as bad as they were. "Well, let's take this to a vote," she proposed. "I vote Aye."

"I vote nay," Weiss instantly responded. She looked towards Blake. "Don't you dare. . ."

Blake crossed her arms and smirked. "Aye."

Weiss' head jerked back towards Ruby. "Don't tell me you'll vote in favor of this too," she threatened.

"What, of course not!" Ruby picked at Yang's fingers, trying to free them from her wrist. Yang's grip tightened and the skin around Ruby's forearm slowly bleached and whitened. She glared at her sister as she tried to pry her hand loose to no avail.

Weiss spoke again with a smug grin, extruding victory. "Team leader counts as two points. Three versus two, we win," she said with a sense of finality.

Yang seemed prepared for the moment. "Ruby's only half awake. She counts as half a point. Two versus one and a half, two-"

Ruby yelled again. "I am fully awake!" She stopped picking at Yang's fingers and started hammering her hand.

"She doesn't know what she's saying," Yang interjected before Ruby could speak any more. "So that settles it, we're going to Vale!" She tugged at Ruby's arm, pulling her outside. Weiss sighed and followed, waiting for Blake to first past in front of her.

They stepped into Vale half an hour later. Yang had set herself as the defacto leader and stood before the group. "So, where should we go first?" she asked them.

 _I'd love to go to a bar right now. . ._

"Ruby? Any ideas?"

 _You're just taunting me now._ "Weapons store," she muttered. Anything else would come off as weird to her sister.

 _Say, when was the last time I've drunk alcohol? Before the time jump?_ She realized how much she missed just being able to forget a problem.

"Weiss?" Yang continued asking.

"Maybe we can go finish that Vytal festival tour?" Weiss proposed. "It was cut short last time." She glared towards Blake. "Thanks to some-"

Yang sensed the incoming argument and rushed on. "And Blake," she hastily cut through Weiss's sentence before anything could happen.

"I heard there's this seafood place next to the docks," Blake said. She turned towards Weiss and opened her mouth to say something.

Yang clapped her hands together to silence the group. "Alright then, we can have a look around the Vytal preparations and then pick up something to eat at the seafood place Blake is talking about. How does that sound?"

She didn't wait for anybody to agree and stepped forwards, pushing apart her two teammates that were staring each other down. They reluctantly looked away, still keeping an uncomfortable distance between each other.

Ahead of them was the shopkeeper, on the ground. A green haired girl held out her hand, pulling him up. He dusted his apron off and gave a small smile before turning back to his shop and climbing back onto the scaffolding.

 _Emerald? What is she doing here?_ Ruby looked at her suspiciously but glanced away before she stared for too long.

Blake slowed down and stared at Emerald. "What do you think you're doing with that wallet?" she asked as she brushed past Emerald. The rest of the group had stopped, looking back towards the exchange between the two.

Emerald turned around and walked backward. She held up a black wallet between her fingers. "What do you mean? This is mine," she replied. She stepped around the corner, leaving Blake's sight.

Blake stared at the alleyway before turning around. She walked ahead, ignoring the rest of team RWBY. Yang quickly caught up and put a hand on her shoulder. "What's the deal?" she asked.

"I just thought she looked familiar," Blake answered with a calm, restrained face. She tilted her head up to look at the clouds. The ones nearby were light tufts floating through the air. A row of dark gray storm clouds, however, laid back near the horizon. Her ear twitched once at the growing humidity.

* * *

Storm rain battered the windows of the cafeteria, covering everything outside in a gray haze. A stifling, suppressing mist of humidity stuffed the cafeteria. Ruby made her way through the crowds of students filling the hall. The downpour outside had forced many who prefered eating outside into the cramped cafeteria, resulting in a mess of students bumping against students as the stifling heat grew.

She brushed a steel shoulder guard. Looking back, she saw a brown-haired boy. Cardin. He caught her glance and stumbled backward, tripping on one of his friends. He grabbed at his friend, almost falling over onto his back. Ruby gave a suspicious look and warily looked away and continued on.

She spotted a waving hand extrude over the crowd. She moved towards the hand and pushed through the amalgamation of students, breaking out into a clearing. Nora, Ren, and Yang were already there. The table they were seated at was completely drenched. Looking up, a web of cracks showed on the roof and a steady stream of rainwater dripped in, splashing on the table. Ruby grimaced but sat at the table, uncomfortably close to the miniature waterfall.

"Ruby! I was waving at you for like half an hour!" Nora said.

"Oh, uh, really?" Ruby awkwardly replied. She raised an arm to shield against the mist from the waterfall. The droplets that hit her arm were freezing cold, shooting little needles up her arm.

"Yes, Really." Nora did not sound amused.

"So where are the others?" Ruby asked, trying to divert the conversation.

It worked surprisingly easily. "Pyrrha, Blake, and Weiss are probably still in that crowd. Yang saw us and came over a few minutes ago," Ren replied.

"Putting those points into perception was worth it," Yang joked.

"Huh, that's unusual. The Yang I know can miss a shining gold bar in an empty room," Ruby dryly replied.

"Hey, that never happened!" Yang rebuked.

She heard Nora go "ooh" and jerked her head towards the redhead, giving a questioning look. She crossed her arms as she waited for Nora to spit the answer out. Nora, meanwhile, giggled before exploding into a roaring laughter.

"What's so funny?!" Yang threatened. Her eyes thinned as she realized what Nora was emptying her lungs over. "Whatever happens next is your fault," she muttered, leaning back into her chair and crossing her arms behind her head. Nora died down and wiped the tears out of her eyes, and the group sat in silence for a moment.

Ren reached towards his fork when Nora peaked up again. "Wait, I think I see Blake over there," she said, still wheezing a little from earlier. She pointed over across the hall. Ruby squinted her eyes, barely making out a ribbon amongst the students.

"I don't see anything," Yang muttered. She looked back towards Ruby. "Oh come on, you don't see it too, okay?"

"She's the black ribbon over there," Ruby pointed, sitting up straight to better see the ribbon.

"I don't believe you." Yang knew that Ruby was somehow lying to her.

"Just ask Nora," Ruby replied.

Nora spoke up. "Wait, Blake's over there!" She stood up and pointed in the opposite direction. "You see the ribbon over there? Also, who's food is that?" She pointed towards an unattended plate of seafood sitting to the right of Ruby.

Ruby felt somebody creep up behind her. She wrestled down the urge to turn around and decapitate whoever was behind her. Blake probably, considering their current debate.

"Boo."

Ruby didn't flinch at all. "Hey Blake," she leisurely said. Nora, meanwhile, visibly jumped out of her seat a little, instinctively grabbing the sides of the chair.

"How did you get so close?!" she yelled, still a little shocked by the moment. She settled back into the chair, visibly on edge.

"You're not exactly a perceptive lot." Blake smirked and stepped to the side.

"Have you been here for a while?" Ren guessed. His physical presence disappeared as quickly as it showed up.

"Didn't want to step into the conversation Ruby was having with Yang," Blake laughed as she pulled out a chair and sat down in front of the plate of food she set down earlier. She looked around if anybody had anything to say. Meeting silence, she dug into her food.

The rest exchanged some uncertain glances but followed. Nora downed her entire plate in half a minute and let out a loud belch. "Say, do you know where Pyrrha and Weiss are?" she asked.

Blake took a big bite out of a grilled slice of fish. "I think I saw Weiss somewhere over in that quadrant." She pointed towards an area close to the table. "I don't know where Pyrrha is. Her hair shouldn't be hard to spot, though."

"Wait, I think I see Weiss over there," Yang said.

Nora started yelling and waving frantically again. Weiss spotted her, as did twenty other people in the surrounding area. Ruby could see her grimace at the attention Nora was garnering, but reluctantly move over anyways.

She pushed through the crowd and moved around the table, taking a seat opposite to Blake. She eyed Blake warily, as if she was still expecting her to suddenly flip out and point a gun at her. Weiss hesitantly looked down to take a bite out of her food, still keeping her eyes on Blake.

"So, that makes everybody but Pyrrha," Nora said. "Weiss, did you see her anywhere?"

"No. It's impossible to spot anybody in that mess."

Nora showed a look of frustration for a moment. "Where the heck is she?" She moaned. She looked towards the massive clock bolted to the wall. "There's only ten minutes left until class!" She slumped back into her seat, as if she had given up completely on the matter.

The remaining minutes passed and everybody stood up to dumped their plates, saying goodbye and going their separate ways.

Pyrrha didn't show up to class either, and when they returned to their dorms, she was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

 **DorkKnight: Woah, 100 followers! That's really freaking cool, even if it sounds perfectly normal. I never actually thought I'd get here on my first try. Nice :)**

 **On a side note, school is really tiring and Exiled has pretty much vanished into thin air (thanks to college and whatnot), so expect MUCH less consistent upload dates. Maybe once every 2-3 weeks? And I should probably apologize for disappearing for a month. Sorry :(**

 **Exiled: I'm sorry for vanishing, but my ever-so-intelligent professors decided to give me a crap ton of projects and stuff weeks 1-4. I'll be more active with the next chapter and onwards. Also, anyone else get a ticket to see Volume 5's premiere in theaters? I'm lucky I live near Fairfax, VA so I can see it there.**

 **DorkKnight: There's a screening at an AMC that's about a 20 minute walk from where I live but I can't go there because reasons ;(**


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